Parent–Teacher Interactions during COVID-19: Experiences of U.S. Teachers of Students with Severe Disabilities

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

This was a well written article that addresses a problem faced by all special educators. I wish that there were more educators interviewed.  The responses seemed to be a "gripe" session more than anything. However, authors need to make the implications section stronger by providing more strategies and how-to's for educators to address the 6 findings from the interviews.  As a result of this study, what can be done to improve in the 6 areas?  Expand on what has been written and add more strategies.  

Author Response

Thank you for your candid and comprehensive review and feedback.

We added numerous ideas and details to the “Implications and Practice” section. Some examples include:

“In addition, school professionals should consider developing video tutorials/written directions for participants to join videoconference meetings from their phone, tablet, or computer. In addition, given limited access to technology among families, schools should direct public funds to technology (e.g., Internet hotspots, personal computers, touchscreens) for families in need.”

 

“This may include plans to retrieve materials from schools, as well as tutorials on how to implement research-based academic and behavioral strategies such as behavioral momentum [37], behavior contracts [38], token economy [39], modeling [40], and direct instruction [41],  as well as adapted resources for students with SD so that they may learn with less support from their parents (e.g., modified at-home learning packages). In the same vein, school professionals may partner with local parent advocacy and support organizations to engage interested parents in learning sessions related to strategies to support their children. Furthermore, communication protocols may include establishing response-time expectations (e.g., teachers will respond within 24 hours) and to whom to direct specific questions (e.g., questions regarding IEP goals should be directed to teachers, questions regarding IEP services should be directed toward administrators) [42].” 

 

“For example, school administration may establish an expectation to maintain progress or generalize skills to home and community settings, as opposed to making demonstrative strides related to IEP goals during at-home learning..”

 

“For example, administrators may consider ways to provide teachers time to visit student homes [43], prior to the school year to proactively develop positive relationships and determine student and family needs. Similarly, school systems may investigate eCoaching with families [44] to provide families realtime support to their children during closures. ”

 

“This may include training on how to engage in virtual coaching, as well as information on how to use software (e.g., Adobe) to adapt materials, or remote into student computers that are provided by schools.” 

“Such strategies may be incorporated into academic and behavior methods courses, as well as a standalone course on the use of technology in education.”

Reviewer 2 Report

Thank you for the opportunity to review your manuscript Parent-Teacher Interactions During COVID-19: Experiences of 2 U.S. Teachers of Students with Severe Disabilities. The paper is well written and concise. I do suggest further detail be provided on the study design, data collection procedures, and add an exemplar of the data analysis or codebook. 

Author Response

Thank you for your candid and comprehensive review and feedback. 

We added information about researchers and research design to page 5: “The research team included four members: two white, female faculty members in a university department of special education and two white, female doctoral students studying special education in the same university department of special education. All members of the research team had years of experience teaching students with SD in the U.S. public school system. The team employed interpretive qualitative research design, maintaining that truth in reality is comprised of an individual’s perceptions of their experiences

[25].”

We added examples of protocol questions on page 7. 

 

We added information about our debriefing process on page 7: “...debriefed after each interview, discussing general perceptions of key themes, reactions to participant experiences as well as reasons why team members had those reactions (e.g., professional experiences).”

We added descriptive examples of the finalized codebook on page 8: “Example codes from the finalized codebook included “feeling overwhelming” (“anxious, overwhelmed with teacher responsibility, emotions, worries, workload, prep time, severity of student needs”), “Equity” (“language as equity issue, technology as equity issue, resources & Supplies as equity issue), and “Family Needs” (unfulfilled family needs, unaddressed barriers, family expectations of teachers, school, and county).”  

 

Th

We added additional details about in the “Trustworthiness” section on page 8: “During this time participants corrected information (e.g., a participant corrected a misunderstanding about a parent advocate being provided by the school for free when it was, in fact, paid for by the parent) but more often expanded on information by providing additional examples or segwaying into a related story (e.g., describing an additional example of a family experiencing language barriers.”

Reviewer 3 Report

The overall manuscript is neat and written concisely—with relevant information for existing literature. I enjoyed reading your work. My compliments. Below I will list small improvements.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you for your candid and comprehensive review and feedback.

We addressed all concerns and recommendations (e.g., grammatical errors, rephrasing of sentences, definition key terms and phrases). 

We added” “Participants felt that school administrators ignored or overlooked the needs and wishes of teachers to appease parents (including caregivers and guardians) directing school closures.” on page 9.

While we agreed with the recommendation, we did not include a participant table to adhere to page limitations. 

We elaborated on participant perceptions of improved relationships on page 18: “March through October 2020 demonstrated the parent-teacher interactions were dynamic and, according to participants, improved as time passed with regard to instances of positive communication and collaboration.”

The capitalization differences found in references are due to citing journal articles and books.