Powerful Partnerships: Improving Family-School Relationships for Students With Visual Impairments or Deafblindness

Abstract

This article highlights the importance of partnerships between families and teachers of students with visual impairments and/or deafblindness by situating this collaborative effort squarely in the legal mandates to collaborate and the research support for effective practices. Six strategies, aligned with the high leverage practices for collaboration, are shared to provide concrete ways for facilitating this partnership. A continuing vignette of a fictional family, the Hamptons, illustrates relevant points in the educational journey for which the implementation of the provided strategies would be pertinent. The vignettes are also designed to demonstrate the possible benefits of employing these strategies on the family-school partnership and ultimately student success.