Reflections of informing parents of children with special needs during the diagnostic and guidance process on transition into special educational services

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effects of a brief family intervention for parents of children undergoing developmental and educational assessments, on their transition to special education services. Due to the fact that these effects reqired an in-depth analysis, a multiple case study was utilized. The research was conducted with 9 parents (6 mothers and 3 fathers) of whose children are on te process of their first develaopmantal diagnosis at Manisa Mental Health and Illness Hospital in 2018. Data were collected via the Family Demographics Information Form, phone conversations with parents, the Family Interview Form and the researcher diary. Data were analyzed using the triangulation method. The followed process with each individual family consists of these steps : (1) After the developmental assesment, parents are informed about the research and asked whether they want to participate, (2) Application forms were filled with families who accepted participation, (3) The intervention session about legal rights and responsibilities was conducted, (4) Parents received the Information Guide For Parents About The Path to Special Education from the researcher regarding to legal rights and responsibilities , (5) The status of the children are checked with routine phone calls until the children started benefitting from special education support services, (6) Interviews with mothers and fathers were conducted individually one month after the start of the special education support services. The results showed that the benefits of the intervention for managing the transition for participants were limited. According to this, it was determined that the intervention made some participants' adaptation to the process easier and for some of themi it was motivational to reach out information. was concluded that the intervention consisted of a single session and that some faimilies were unable to respond to the language and cultural characteristics of the intervention. In line with these reasons, it was discussed that the interactions to be achieved by bringing families together with experts at shorter intervals may be more efficient in similar interventions.