Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
4-2026
Document Type
DNP Project
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Julie Lane
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Christie Bledsoe
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Javier Flores
Abstract
Increasing parental involvement in the special education process means parents, teachers, and school administrators can unite to educate the children. The problem that the researcher identified was that emergent bilingual families struggle to become meaningful participants in their children’s individualized education plans. This was a qualitative case study that identified the barriers that bilingual parents face within the special education process and the recommendations from bilingual parents on how to help them become more meaningful members of their child’s individualized education plan. The population within the research included bilingual families with children in the greater Houston, Texas area who have a current individualized education plan and receive special education services. The researcher conducted semistructured interviews utilizing established interview questions that allowed bilingual parents to express their perception of the special education process while also expressing experiences they have encountered while attempting to be a meaningful member of their child’s individualized education plan team. The data gained from the interviews aligned with Epstein’s parental involvement theory in identifying the barriers that bilingual parents face within the special education process. Training opportunities and establishing support groups for bilingual parents of children with disabilities emerged as key results of the study.
Keywords: bilingualism, children with disabilities, IEP, parental involvement
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hernandez, Miranda Leah, "Identifying the Barriers Bilingual Parents Face in the Special Education Process" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1033.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1033