ABSTRACT

Family-early educator partnerships are foundational to early childhood and early childhood special education, and collaborative decision-making regarding child and family need is recognized as a critical component of these partnerships. This study investigated how two Part C early intervention home visitors and four parents communicated during home visits, and discursively selected strategies to promote children’s development. The following research questions were addressed: (1) How is decision-making constructed through discourse by parents and home visitors during home visits? (2) How do decision-making structures contribute to parent participation in decision-making? Analysis of home visit transcripts and interviews with home visitors indicated that how home visitors introduced the opportunity to make a decision and addressed options with families played an essential role in the extent to which parents meaningfully participated in decision-making. Although home visitors intended to provide parents with opportunities for full participation, this was not consistently realized during home visits. Home visitors predominantly initiated and controlled discussion topics. Features of words spoken and actions taken through language contributed to interactional construction of home visitors as assessors and advice givers, with parents in more passive roles, such as informants and advice followers. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

摘要

家庭早期教育者伙伴关系是幼儿和幼儿特殊教育的基础，有关儿童和家庭需求的协作决策被认为是这些伙伴关系的重要组成部分。这项研究调查了两位C部分进行早期干预的家庭访问者和四位父母在家庭访问期间如何进行沟通，并通过推论选择了促进儿童发展的策略。解决了以下研究问题：（1）在家访时，父母和来访者的话语如何构成决策？（2）决策结构如何促进父母参与决策？对家庭访问记录和对家庭访问者的访谈的分析表明，家庭访问者如何引入机会做出决定并与家人讨论选择方案在父母有意义地参与决策的程度上起着至关重要的作用。尽管家庭访问者打算为父母提供充分参与的机会，但是在家庭访问期间并没有始终如一地意识到这一点。家庭访问者主要发起和控制讨论主题。口头语言的特点和通过语言采取的行动促进了作为评估者和建议者的家庭访客的互动性建设，家长扮演被动角色，例如线人和忠告追随者。讨论了对研究和实践的意义。