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Parent/Professional Training Seminars for Families of Children with Disabilities

Phase 4: Portfolio

Tenaya Watson

CUR/516

August 3, 2015

Dr. Mary Poe

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Parent/Professional Training Seminars for Families of Children with Disabilities

Families of children with disabilities need compassion, guidance, and support. An

example of providing support for families of children with disabilities could consist of

professionals implementing educational, hands-on training seminars. However, these trainings

require certain levels of standards and criterions to provide effective instructional plans. Overall

standards during such training seminars are identified for determining goals, learning objectives,

and tools to gather information or determine evaluation instruments. Evaluation overviews of

collected information could also be conducted and impact future decisions, such as efficacy and

further training opportunities, for families and professionals.

Identified Criteria

Certain goals, learning objectives, and overall positive outcomes of learners in the

training seminars could be successfully achieved and promote collaboration between parents and

professionals. The 2 main goals consist of the following: Establish connections between

families/professionals to collaborate communication needs for the child and understand laws

pertaining to disabilities, personal rights, and compliance procedures. Learning objectives are

broken down in a precise manner to support the main goals; for example, A-B-C-D format,

learning method, and explanation of chosen methods. Providing discussion opportunities during

whole group or small group instruction also influences collaboration between parents and

professionals. According to Melissa Kelly, Secondary Education Expert, in the article Whole

Group Discussion as a Teaching (2015), whole group discussions are referenced as providing

“greater interaction between teachers and students” (para. 2). Discussions could provide positive

interactions and engage learners in the learning process.

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Besides whole group discussions, positive interactions could consist of trainers providing

clear directions during educational moments and organized, hands-on activities. Examples of

activities include the following: 1.) Small groups to demonstrate turn-taking strategies with

“what” question cards; 2.) Role-playing where 1 learner is the child and the other learner is the

adult; 3.) Small groups to demonstrate turn-taking strategies with discussing laws; 4.) Role-

playing where 1 learner listens to compliance procedures and the other learner explains

compliance procedures. After each activity entails a question/answer section to provide feedback

for comparing differences and achieving overall learning outcomes.

Describe any evaluation instruments that must be created. Prior to the training

seminars, several activity materials and evaluation instruments must be prepared. Materials could

be guidebooks and/or manuals, lesson plans, and visual presentations which are all important to

create for keeping the instructional design on track and organized. Lessons plans are guided

through Don Clark’s website www.nwlink.com, Templates for Instructional Design: Lesson Plan

Template (2010), and Power Point Presentations. Evaluation instruments consist of formative

assessments to gather information and compare outcomes; for example, formal observations in

the classroom and feedback questionnaires. These visual presentations, lesson plans, and

evaluation instruments are constructed through Microsoft Office prior to the training seminars.

Evaluation overview for future decisions regarding efficacy and additional offerings

of trainings. Gathering feedback and additional information from parents and professionals

during trainings promote evaluation overviews and determine future decisions, such as standards

towards efficacy and additional offerings of trainings. Defined goals, objectives, and role-playing

activities could disclose various amounts of knowledge and levels of results determining training

effectiveness. Advantages of determining training effectiveness are establishing ongoing

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improvements towards instructional design methods and revealing the overall need for children

with disabilities.

Conclusion

In conclusion, families of children with disabilities need support, guidance, and could

benefit from professional training seminars. High standards of instructional plans impact

effectiveness when defining goals and learning objectives. Evaluation instruments and overviews

are successful tools. Overviews also influence future decisions for trainings and continue to

successfully guide collaboration among parents and professionals for communication needs.

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References

Kelly, M. (2015). Whole Group Discussion as a Teaching. Retrieved from

http://712educators.about.com/od/lessonplans/p/discussions.htm

Clark, D. (2010). Templates for Instructional Design: Lesson Plan Template. Retrieved from

http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/templates/templates.html

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According to Don Clark’s website www.nwlink.com Templates for Instructional Design: Lesson

Plan Template (2010), the following lesson plan template could be used during an instructional

design:

Parent/Professional Training Seminars for Families of Children with

Disabilities: Lesson Plan Example

Course Time: 120 min. 08/17/15

1) Learner Outcome: Understand communication needs

of children with disabilities and gain collaboration of

parents and professionals of children with disabilities

a) Task: Control negative behaviors and understand

laws regarding disabilities

b) Condition: Structured training seminars

c) Standard: Accredited certification after

approximately 2 weeks, Monday- Friday, 2-4 hours

per day

Time: 5 min. 2) Introduction: Introduce professional communication

strategist and background information.

Time: 5 min. 3) Objective: Help families of children with disabilities

collaborate with professionals and gain additional

support for communication needs.

Time: 5 min. 4) Course Requirements: Hands-on participation and

completing feedback evaluations

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Time: 5 min. 5) Course Description: Parent/Professional collaboration

can be possible in the community to enhance support

for families of children with disabilities. Providing

training seminars for targeted audiences, such as

parents and professionals, could allow for positive

support and collaboration. Various modalities will be

delivered in these training seminars to express targeted

goals and objectives for parent/professional

collaboration, educational guidance, emotional

support, and understanding of legal rights and

procedures. There will be visual presentations,

guidebooks, and hands-on activities provided during

the training for 2-4 hours per day, Monday thru Friday,

and over a 2 week span.

a) Stimulate recall of prior learning: Share personal

and professional experiences regarding children

with disabilities

6) Instructional Outline

Time: 40 min. a) Present visual presentations for parents to guide

examples and encourage support from

professionals in the classroom

b) Utilize Power Point Presentations, videos, and

hand-outs for educational information and gather

evaluation information

Time: 30 min. Goal: Establish connections between

families/professionals to collaborate communication needs

for the child

a) Objective #1:Given educational materials by

professionals for children with disabilities, the

learner will be able to demonstrate 4-6 turn-taking

skills by asking and answering “what” questions

with no more than 5 errors.

b) Collaborative Learning: Learners will be joining

into small groups or pairs to work collaboratively

in turn-taking sessions and asking and answering

“what” questions to each other.

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Time 15 min.

Time: 15 min.

Elicit performance (practice) and provide feedback:

c) Learners will provide feedback to professionals

d) Professionals will provide feedback to learners

Review information and gather feedback with

question/answer documents

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Reference

Clark, D. (2010). Templates for Instructional Design: Lesson Plan Template. Retrieved from

http://www.nwlink.com/~Donclark/hrd/templates/templates.html