Parental attitudes to the problem of home-based education of children with disabilities

Brutskaia Kseniia PhD in Psychology Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Technologies and Means of Psychological and Pedagogical Habilitation of ISE RAE 119121, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Pogodinskaya str., 8, office 1 bozhenkova.k@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Currently, the modern education system of the Russian Federation assumes several options for teaching children with disabilities, one of which is a home-based form of education. The home-based form of education or homeschooling for certain categories of students is regulated by Article 41 of the Federal Law "On Education in the Russian Federation". It is legislatively stipulated that "the education of children mastering basic general education programs and in need of long-term treatment, as well as disabled children who cannot attend educational organizations for health reasons, can also be organized by educational organizations at home or in medical organizations" ^[13].

A significant role in the framework of inclusive education is played by the interaction of the teacher with the parents of the child with the HIA or his legal representatives. The family is the first collective, the social environment in the life of a child, occupies an important place in the process of formation and development of his personality ^[11]. The importance of family for a child with disabilities in his upbringing is no less, and sometimes even more important than for a healthy child ^[5,7]. In a number of foreign and domestic studies, it has been shown that the upbringing of a child with a particular defect imposes additional requirements not only to the external environment, but primarily to the initial environment - the family, the relationships existing in it, the nature of family upbringing ^[8,14].

It should be noted that parents are not just participants in the learning process, but also contribute to the development and implementation of SIPR. So, the work on building the educational load for the child is coordinated with the parents, the time for classes and other things are coordinated. According to the methodological recommendations on the organization of home schooling for students with disabilities, with disabilities, the parent or legal representative of the student is obliged ^[10]: to ensure the admission of teaching staff to the student for classes, creates conditions for conducting training sessions, including organizing a workplace; ensures the presence of an adult family member (over 18 years old) at the time of the training sessions at home; monitors the students' homework; timely, during the day, inform the teacher / class teacher about the need to cancel classes due to the student's illness at home and the possibility of their resumption.

At the same time, when studying modern scientific publications, we could not find data on parental attitudes to the problem of home-based education of children with disabilities, which indicates the need for further scientific and methodological search.

The purpose of the study: to identify and study parental attitudes to the problem of home-based education of children with disabilities.

Research methods: questionnaire "Assessment of coping strategies in various fields" (E. Heim) ^[4]; "Questionnaire for parents whose children are home-schooled". The developed questionnaire includes 13 questions. The questions are aimed at identifying the difficulties and needs of parents in organizing home-based education.

The main method of research was the content analysis of respondents' free statements, which presupposes the completion of a number of sentences. Meaningful interpretation of the highlighted answers allows you to identify hidden semantic experiences, difficulties, as well as to outline optimal ways to solve problems.

The study involved 60 parents with children with disabilities (school age) who are on home-based education. The survey was conducted in face-to-face and remote format.

The socio-demographic characteristics of the parents of children in home-based education are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Distribution of parents of children in home-based education by socio-demographic indicators

Table 1 shows that both parents were present in 63.9% of families, but 23% of families were "incomplete", where most often the child was raised by one mother. 11.5% indicated that they have the status of a large family, and 1.6% have custody.

According to the indicator "presence of older children in the family", it was revealed that 32.8% of families have two children, and 21.3% of families indicated the presence of one and three children. It was found that most often the father of the family continues his work (55.6%), in 27.8% both parents do not work, only 4.9% indicated that both parents financially support the family, and 4.9% indicated that material support is provided by relatives of the "third" age.

The results of the study.

As part of the survey, parents of children who are on home-based education were asked to indicate the most acceptable form of education for the child (Fig. 1). Thus, it was found that 73.8% of parents are satisfied with home-based education, although they indicated dissatisfaction with the contact "teacher-student", "teacher-parents". 18% of parents noted a mixed form of education (full-time and home-based format). 6.6% indicated full-time education in a special (correctional) school. And only 1.6% of parents noted the distance learning format.

Fig. 1. Distribution of answers to the questionnaire questions: "In your opinion, what is the most acceptable form of education for your child?"

            As is known, when raising a child with disabilities in the family, the role of adult members of the "third age" ^[15] becomes even more significant, since they can provide practical assistance to the family, as well as emotional and financial support.

            As part of our study, it was revealed that relatives of the "third" age (25.9%) are engaged in education on an equal footing with their parents ("doing homework", "walking", "reading", etc.), actively spend weekends, holidays (20.7%), emotionally support (20.7%), (3.4%) provide financial assistance (fig.2).

Fig.2. Distribution of answers to the questionnaire questions: What kind of participation do grandparents take in the life of a grandson /granddaughter?

According to the results of the content analysis of the parents' statements, 85 completed semantic units were identified, which, according to the psychological content, were combined into semantic categories reflecting the difficulties of parents in the home-based form of teaching a child with disabilities.

1 semantic category "Difficulties of education and upbringing". Parents note that when a child is in a home-based form of education, there are difficulties in his socialization ("he communicates little with peers", "does not conduct a dialogue", "isolated", "has difficulties in communication"), active opposition to learning ("negativism", "withdrawal from the learning situation", "walks in Also, parents note that they "do not have enough information on the curriculum", "a lot of tasks", "inconvenient time for classes", "different times for classes". Parents point out that there are no special textbooks and didactic materials for productive learning ("there are not enough textbooks", etc.). Others, drew attention to the lack of the possibility of choosing specialists of a narrow profile (speech therapist, defectologist, etc.).

2 semantic category "Psychological and pedagogical difficulties". Parents indicate that the child shows aggression, autoaggression. The mental state is more characterized as depressed. There is apathy, irritation, increased tension ("passive", "bites himself", "does not understand what is wanted from him", etc.).

3 semantic category "Medical difficulties". The child experiences physical discomfort during classes ("problems with the spine", "it's hard to sit", "poor physical health", etc.).

            According to the data presented, most parents have difficulties in teaching and raising a child with disabilities, have psychological, pedagogical and medical difficulties. In other words, parents lack theoretical pedagogical and psychological knowledge, as well as practical skills to resolve the difficulties they have indicated ^[12].

            The analysis of the data obtained showed that there are different parental attitudes towards home-based education (depending on the length of the child's stay in home-based education).

1 parental setting (home-based learning period from 1 month to 1 year)

It is typical for parents to perceive the home-based form of education as a "forced" option. There are experiences associated with the child's detachment from peers, the lack of an active social life. The main types of behavior in a situation of stress, difficult life situation are cooperation with significant people, parents are looking for support in the immediate environment or they themselves are trying to help others. However, caring for others becomes primary when one's own needs fade into the background. When negative experiences arise, parents try to switch to something else (work, hobbies, walking, etc.). Parents are interested in the psychological and pedagogical difficulties of the child. First of all, the requests relate to the emotional state of the child ("screaming", "crying", etc.). Issues related to the formation of self-service skills ("he does not eat himself", "cannot remove toys", etc.). For parents, it is important to provide support from relatives of the "third" age who spend the weekend with the child.

The vector of development within the framework of this parental attitude is the issues of socialization. The main areas of work of psychological and pedagogical specialists will be aimed at providing educational assistance to parents. Educational work should be aimed at clarifying the possibilities of socializing family potential, which includes a set of socio-psychological, material and other resources of the family ^[12].

            2 parental setting (period of home-based education from 2 to 4 years)

            In general, parents are satisfied with the quality of home-based education, but for many, the most acceptable form is mixed (attending school as much as possible, taking into account the child's physical and mental state).

Parents indicated that they have a need for professional assistance from psychological and pedagogical specialists (speech therapists, speech pathologists, psychologists, etc.). Parents build communication with the child taking into account his physical and mental condition. In a stressful situation, they prefer to study everything, analyze and find the most correct solution. They tend to turn to religion, they believe and hope that the situation will be resolved. Parents are more likely to encounter behavioral difficulties of a child with disabilities (problems with the child's obedience, passivity, etc.). Assessing the quality of home-based learning, parents note that there are not enough walks in the fresh air during the lesson. In this model, the role of the third age plays a completely different role compared to the first model. So, to a greater extent, relatives of the "third" age provide financial assistance to the family. Many grandparents continue their work and financially support the child's family. Other parents point to emotional support from relatives of the "third" age.

The vector of development in the presented parental setting is taking into account the state of health of a child with disabilities. According to L.S. Vygotsky, any defect is a force potential ^[3]. Therefore, the parents of such a child should be clearly aware of the specifics of the ongoing psychological and educational and psychological rehabilitation work, the guidelines of which should be interrelated with the possible compensation of pathology ^[2].

3 parental setting (period of home-based education from 5 years)

For most parents, home–based education is an ideal option for children with TMNR. In general, parents note that thanks to the home-based form of education, the child's emotional background improves after classes. In a stressful situation, parents focus on passive forms of behavior with a refusal to overcome difficulties due to lack of faith in their own strength and intellectual resources. For the first time, parents declare intrapersonal needs ("fatigue", "how to behave correctly with a child", "irritation with loved ones", etc.). Psychological and pedagogical requests are "the child does not want to learn", "whims in the classroom", "I can't understand the child". The significant role of relatives of the "third" age is determined by the fact that they are engaged in raising a child on an equal footing with their parents. The parents of this model, in terms of adjusting home-based learning, suggest introducing more conversational, creative lessons aimed at developing the child's speech and independence.

The vector of development is a set of internal parental needs. For systematic and comprehensive work, it is necessary to take into account the psychological state of parents. After all, as you know, starting from the stage of the birth of a child with disabilities, all family members experience not only his developmental crises, but also their own crises associated with changes in various circumstances. All stages of the birth and development of children with disabilities in the aspect of ongoing processes and emerging reactions of parents need a detailed analysis, the information collected will facilitate the support of psychological services for such families. Therefore, when studying relationships in families with children with disabilities, it is important to identify the intrapersonal resources of parents, which, if necessary, can be mobilized for rapid adaptation to new life periods in the upbringing and education of a child with disabilities.

Thus, parents whose children are home-schooled can be differentiated depending on the duration of the child's education at home. Demonstration of pedagogical and psychological needs of parents in tandem with their intrapersonal needs is possible through a set of identified parental attitudes.

Summing up the above, we can conclude: a teacher involved in the process of home-based education of a child with disabilities should be able to build effective interaction not only with the child, but also with his parents and family as a whole.