ERIC EJ1160258: Parents' Educational Expectations for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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by  ERIC

EducationandTraininginAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities,2017,52(4),357–368
©DivisiononAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities
Parents’ Educational Expectations for Young Children with
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Hillary H. Bush Shana R. Cohen
MassachusettsGeneralHospital UniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego
Abbey S. Eisenhower Jan Blacher
UniversityofMassachusetts,Boston UniversityofCalifornia,Riverside
Abstract: Among typically developing children, many characteristics have been associated with parents’
expectations for their children’s adjustment to school and academic progress. Despite the history of increased
parentalinvolvementintheeducationofchildrenwithautismspectrumdisorder(ASD)relativetoparentsof
childrenwithoutASD,thereislittleresearchontheeducationalexpectationsthatparentsholdfortheiryoung
children with ASD and how they are formed. In the current study, we addressed this gap by using a mixed
methods design to examine the association between parents’ expectations for the level of success their children
would achieve during the current school year, and multiple child-, parent/family-, and teacher/school-level
factors,amongparentsof4to7yearoldswithASD(N(cid:2)121).Whenthesedifferentfactorswereconsidered
simultaneously,children’sexternalizingbehaviors,parents’educationallevel,andparents’employmentstatus
werefoundtobesignificantlyassociatedwithparents’expectationsofschooling.
Parents’ expectations for their children shape Kean,2005).However,despitethepotentially
their parenting behaviors, and consequently, influential role of parents’ expectations of
children’s self-concept, school adjustment, and schooling,verylittleattentionhasbeenplaced
academicoutcomes(Bandura,Barbaranelli,Ca- onparents’expectationsfortheiryoungchil-
prara,&Pastorelli,1996).Infact,parentswho drenwithautismspectrumdisorder(ASD)as
hold high academic expectations have chil- they transition into early schooling. In the
drenwhoexhibitbetterschooloutcomesthan current study, we examined parents’ school-
might be anticipated based solely on their related expectations for their young children
cognitive functioning or previous academic with ASD, as well as their child-, parent/fam-
achievement(deBoer&vanderWerf,2015). ily-, and teacher/school-level correlates. The
Past research suggests that parents’ expecta- intent was to identify areas where profession-
tions may play a protective role in children’s alsmightbetterunderstandandsupportpar-
academicachievementforchildrenfacingrisk ents of children with ASD adapting to school
factors,suchaseconomicdisadvantage(Alex- entry.
ander, Entwistler, & Bedinger, 1994; Davis-
EcologicalSystemsTheoryandSchoolAdjustment
Thispaperwasbasedontheactivitiesandoriginal
conceptualmodelofalongitudinalstudyfundedby In examining the individual, family, and
theInstituteofEducationSciences(R324A110086; school contexts that relate to parents’ expec-
J. Blacher, P.I.) Support was also provided by the tations of schooling and academic achieve-
SEARCH Family Autism Resource Center in the
ment for their children with ASD, Bronfen-
GraduateSchoolofEducation,UCRiverside.Cor-
brenner’s(1979)ecologicalmodelprovidesa
respondence concerning this article should be ad-
useful guide (Eisenhower, Bush, & Blacher,
dressedtoHillaryH.Bush,LearningandEmotional
2015; Odom et al., 2004). Ecological systems
Assessment Program (LEAP), Department of Psy-
chology,MassachusettsGeneralHospital,151Mer- theory suggests examining not only direct
rimacSt.,5thfloor,Boston,MA,USA,02114.E-mail: contextualinfluences,suchasparents,school,
[email protected] and peers (microsystem), but also the effects
Parents’EducationalExpectations / 357
ofinteractionsbetweenthesecontexts,suchas been associated with parents’ educational ex-
parent-teacher communications and relation- pectationsamongparentsoftypicallydevelop-
ships(themesosystem).Moreexternalfactors ing children. For example, ethnic minority
also affect children’s experiences, including parents,andparentswithlessannualincome
thespecialeducationservicesystem(theexo- and fewer years of education have reported
system), and broader, societal factors (e.g., lower and/or more misaligned expectations
lawssuchastheIndividualswithDisabilitiesEd- of schooling for their children than parents
ucationAct,2004)thatgovernserviceprovision
from more socio-economically advantaged
(the macrosystem). Finally, developmental
backgrounds(Alexanderetal.,1994;deBoer
changesovertime,forboththechildandthese
&vanderWerf,2015;Yamamoto&Holloway,
systems, warrant consideration (the chrono-
2010). Relatively less research has examined
system). Overall, child, parent, teacher, class-
the impact of teacher and school characteris-
room,schoolfactors,andinteractionsamong
tics (microsystem), parent-teacher relation-
these systems are likely to influence school
ships(mesosystem),andtheirassociationson
adjustment for young children with ASD (Pi-
parents’ educational expectations. However,
anta, 2010). The importance of considering
inarecentstudybyLawrence(2015),parents’
the influence of multiple environmental and
income was found to moderate the relation
contextual factors in the lives of individuals
betweenracialdiversitywithintheschooland
withdisabilitiesisreflectedintheInternational
parents’ educational expectations. Specifi-
Classification of Functioning, Disability and
Health (WHO, 2001). Given our aim – to ex- cally, for lower income parents, expectations
ploretheeducationalexpectationsofparents were higher when schools were more racially
whoraisechildrenwithASD–wedonotseek diverse;however,expectationswerenotcorre-
to replicate Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecolog- lated with racial diversity of the school for
ical model, but instead to examine how par- higherincomeparents.Whilethisfindingre-
ents’educationalexpectationsmayshapechil- quiresadditionalinvestigation,itdoessuggest
dren’s school experiences, including the that, to varying degrees, parents of typically
interactions that children have with teachers. developing children consider teacher- and
This study will support a more in-depth un- school-levelfactors(e.g.,studentbodycharac-
derstanding of the microsystem and the me- teristics)whenformingexpectationsfortheir
sosystem for the children with ASD in our children’s schooling. Teacher- and school-
sample. levelfactorsmaybeparticularlyrelevantwhen
achildhasASD,asparentsmayhaveparticu-
ParentExpectationsforTypicallyDeveloping lar concerns about classroom placement,
Children teacher qualifications, or the amount of time
the child interacts with typical peers during
Prior research with typically developing chil-
theschoolday(Tobinetal.,2012).Forexam-
drenhasshownthatchildcharacteristics,such
ple, it may be the case that when parents
as greater intellectual ability, greater aca-
believethattheschoolsettingisagoodmatch
demic achievement, and more positive atti-
for their children’s needs and have confi-
tudes toward learning, are positively associ-
denceinteachers’abilities,thentheymaybe
ated with parents’ educational expectations
more optimistic and form more positive ex-
(Briley, Harden, & Tucker-Drob, 2014; John-
pectationsfortheschoolyearahead.Further,
son, McGue, & Iacono, 2007; Sonuga-Barke,
longitudinal studies among typically develop-
Stevenson, Thompson, Lamparelli, & Gold-
ing children have shown a positive, transac-
foot, 1995). For example, Sonuga-Barke and
colleagues (1995) found that parents held tional relation between parents’ expectations
greater educational attainment expectations and children’s academic performance, with
forchildrenwhoshowedmoreadvancedcog- parents’ expectations and academic achieve-
nitive abilities, and physical and behavioral mentpredictingincreasesinoneanotherover
self-regulation;thesefindingswereevidentfor time (Briley et al., 2014). Further research is
childrenasyoungas3yearsold. neededtounderstandwhetherthesepatterns
Parent and family characteristics also have alsoexistforparentsofchildrenwithASD.
358 / EducationandTraininginAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities-December2017
Parents’ExpectationsforChildrenwithASD and goal-setting between parents and teach-
ers. Similarly, parents may hold expectations
Whilemostresearchinthisareahasexamined that prioritize or emphasize different aspects
parents’ educational expectations for their of the child’s development, such as social or
typically developing children, a few studies emotional development versus academically-
haveexaminedparents’school-relatedexpec- focused expectations. Further, tensions may
tationsfortheiryoungchildrenwithASD.Ivey arise when parent expectations do not align
and colleagues (2004) explored expectations with the services that are available or feasible
of educational attainment, employment, and within the school district (Russell, 2005), or
family life among 25 caregivers of children whenparentsencounterdifficultiescommuni-
(4-20 years old) with ASD. In this study, par- cating or sharing their perspectives with the
ents identified both the importance of certain educationalteam(Tucker&Schwartz,2013).
goals, and the likelihood that their children On the other hand, parents of children with
would achieve them. Parents rated attending ASD, who have an Individualized Education
school highly important and they viewed it Plan (IEP), are more likely to be actively in-
likely that their children with ASD would do volved in their children’s day-to-day educa-
so.However,theyrated“achievingthehighest tional experiences (e.g., engaging in consis-
education possible” and “being successful in tent communication with the child’s teacher
school” as important, yet less likely to occur. or therapists, attending conferences and
In another study, Chiang and colleagues meetings more frequently), as compared to
(2012) examined how parents’ expectations parentsoftypicallydevelopingchildren,with-
predictedpostsecondaryeducationfor830ad- outanIEP(Wagner,Newman,Cameto,Javitz,
olescents with ASD. Parents’ expectations for & Valdes, 2012; Zablotsky, Boswell, & Smith,
their children to pursue postsecondary ac- 2012). This regular involvement may provide
countedforuniquevarianceinstudents’sub- parents with specific knowledge about their
sequent educational attainment, after ac- child’s capabilities, resulting in more align-
counting for variables such as children’s mentorspecificityinparents’expectations.
verbal skills, and the presence or absence of
intellectualdisability.Indeed,78%ofstudents
ResearchQuestions
who pursued postsecondary education had
parentswhoexpectedthattheywould;75%of Thecurrentstudyispartofamultisite,longi-
thosewhodidnotpursuepostsecondaryedu- tudinal study on the educational experiences
cation had parents who expected that they of early elementary age children with ASD,
wouldnot.Thesefindingsareconsistentwith with the overarching goal of better under-
those of many non-ASD studies: parents’ ex- standing the factors that promote adaptation
pectationswerestrongpredictorsofacademic toformalschoolingandpositiveschooladjust-
achievement. mentforthispopulation.Thefocushereison
Thereareimportantwaysinwhichexpecta- thefollowingtworesearchquestions:
tions may differ between parents of typically
developingchildrenandparentsofthosewith 1. Whattypesofschool-relatedexpectations
ASD. Parents of children with ASD may face do parents hold for their young children
uniquebarriersthatimpedeformationofpos- withASD?
itive expectations of schooling. Such barriers 2. Which child-, parent/family-, and teach-
might include parents, teachers, and thera- er/school-levelfactorsareassociatedwith
pists having different goals and beliefs about parents’ educational expectations for
what would be best for the child, which may theiryoungchildrenwithASD?
impedethechildfrommaximizinghisorher
academic potential (Parsons, Lewis, & Ellins,
Method
2009; Russell, 2005). Parents’ and teachers’
expectationsmaydifferintheextenttowhich
Participants
they are achievable or realistic, given chil-
dren’s current level of functioning; this con- Participantsinthecurrentstudyincludedtri-
trast could lead to strained communications ads of youth with ASD (n (cid:2) 121, 83% male),
Parents’EducationalExpectations / 359
oneparentperchild(n(cid:2)121,86%biological The interview did not ask specifically about
mothers),andoneteacherperchild(n(cid:2)104, academic versus other types of expectations
participation rate (cid:2) 86%). On average, chil- (e.g.,social,behavioral),withtheunderstand-
dren were 5 years, 8 months (range (cid:2) 4–7 ingthatsomeparentsmightemphasizesome
years)andparentswere38yearsold(range(cid:2) domains more so than others. If parents did
24–52).Mostofthechildrenattendedapub- not discuss the presence of characteristics or
lic school (88%), and were in preschool experiencesthatmightmakeschooleasieror
(37%), kindergarten (31%) or first grade more challenging in their initial response,
(25%). About half of the children were in then they were asked specific follow-up ques-
small,specialeducationclasses(overallmean tions about these. A detailed manual was de-
classsize(cid:2)16)for50%ormoreoftheschool veloped for the current study, and a coding
day. Parents racially identified as White team listened to recordings of parents’ re-
(69%), Latino (9%), Asian American (8%), sponses and coded each one on a 4-point
multiracial(8%),Black(6%),andotherraces scale, reflecting the level of success antici-
(1%),basedonanopen-endeditemlaterag- pated for the child. The codes included: 4 (cid:2)
gregated into categories. Most parents were “successful”, 3 (cid:2) “mostly successful”, 2 (cid:2)
married (84%) and held at least a 4-year col- “somewhat successful”, and 1 (cid:2) “not at all
lege degree (74%). Half of the families had successful” (see Table 2 for further explana-
annual incomes above $80,000, and 54% of tion of each code and example quotes from
parentrespondentsworkedoutsidethehome. parents). The coding team consensus-coded
Families were recruited through schools, au- 20% of the interviews (n (cid:2) 25) and achieved
tismclinics,andwordofmouthinthenorth- inter-raterreliabilityof88%.
eastern United States (42%) and southern Child behavior problems. The parent-re-
California (58%). Most teacher participants ported Child Behavior Checklist ages 1.5–5 and
(n (cid:2) 104) were White (77%) and female the Child Behavior Checklist ages 6–18 (CBCL;
(87%), with a master’s degree or higher Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000, 2001), depend-
(66%).Teachershadanaverageof13.8years ingontheageofthechild,wereusedtoassess
ofteachingexperience(range(cid:2)1–44). children’s behavior problems. Items present
child problems alphabetically (from “aches
and pains without medical cause” to “wor-
Measures
ries”),parentsareaskedtoratewhethereach
Parents’ educational expectations. Each par- problemwasnottrue,somewhatorsometimestrue,
ent completed a 20–35 minute structured, orverytrueoroftentruefortheirchildoverthe
qualitative interview with a trained research past two months. The measures yield broad-
assistant, which focused on different aspects bandInternalizingandExternalizingTscores
of children’s school adjustment (e.g., getting (M (cid:2) 50, SD (cid:2) 10), with higher scores indi-
alongwithteachers,stepstheparentsand/or cating higher levels of symptomatology. The
teacherhadtakentopreparethechildforthe CBCLhasdemonstratedexcellentvalidityand
upcomingschoolyear).Giventhelimitedex- both total and broadband scores are corre-
isting research on school adjustment among lated with other measures of behavior prob-
young children with ASD, a structured inter- lems (Achenbach & Rescorla, 2000). In the
view script was developed specifically for the currentstudy,Cronbach’salphasrangedfrom
current study and a qualitative, phenomeno- .82to.91.
logical approach to understanding parents’ Child social skills. The parent-reported So-
perceptionsoftheirchild’seducationalexpe- cialSkillsImprovementSystem-RatingScales(SSIS-
riences was employed. During the interview, RS; Gresham & Elliott, 2008) was adminis-
the following question was presented to all tered to assess children’s social skills. On the
participants: “How do you think your child SSIS-RS, respondents rate the frequency of
will do this year in school?” The aim of this behaviorallyspecifiedsocialskillsona4-point
question was to explore parents’ schooling scale of never, seldom, often, and almost always.
expectationsfortheirchildinanintentionally Thescaleyieldsscoresthatcanbeconvertedto
broad manner, in order to capture the full standardscores(M(cid:2)100;SD(cid:2)15);children’s
range of expectations that they might hold. totalstandardscoreswereanalyzedinthecur-
360 / EducationandTraininginAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities-December2017
rent study. On this measure, higher scores On these subtests, higher scores indicate
indicated higher levels of social skills. The greater skills. In the standardization sample,
total standardized score was chosen as it has reliability of individual subtests ranged from
demonstrated high internal consistency, .74 to .94. The WJ-III has strong test-retest
strong construct validity, good test-retest reli- reliability and adequate validity with young
ability, and good convergent validity children (Woodcock et al., 2007), and has
(Gresham & Elliott, 2008). Versions of the beenusedwithchildrenwithASD(e.g.,New-
SSIS-RS have been used to assess social func- manetal.,2007).
tioninginchildrenwithautism(Frankel,My- Demographics. Background information was
att,&Feinberg,2007)andintellectualdisabil- obtained through parent- and teacher-report
ities (Neece & Baker, 2008). In the current surveys.Variablesincludedparentageinyears
sample,Cronbach’salphawas.85. (continuous), parent education level (ordi-
Children’s ASD symptoms. To assess ASD nal), parent employment (ordinal; full-time/
symptomatology,parentscompletedtheSocial part-time/not employed), household income
Responsiveness Scale (SRS; Constantino & Gru- (ordinal), teacher education level (ordinal),
ber, 2005). The 65-item SRS assesses recep- years of teaching experience (continuous),
tive, cognitive, expressive, and motivational classroom size (continuous; number of stu-
aspects of social behavior, as well as autistic dents),andthepercentageoftimethetarget
preoccupations. The SRS total T score (M (cid:2) child spent in the general education class-
50;SD(cid:2)10)distinguisheschildrenwithASD room(ordinal).
fromchildrenwithandwithoutdifferentpsy- Parent-teacher interactions. Parents’ percep-
chological disorders (Constantino, Przybeck, tions of their interactions and relationships
Friesen, & Todd, 2000). A high score on this with their children’s teachers were measured
measure indicates greater autism symptom- usingmodifiedversionsoftheparentalschool
atology, or less social responsiveness. In the involvement subscale (16 items) and the par-
currentsample,Cronbach’salphawas.88. ent-teacherrelationshipsubscale(9items)of
Child language skills. To assess language the Parent-Teacher Involvement Questionnaire:
skills,childrenwereadministeredtheComprehen- Parent (PTIQ-P; Corrigan, 2002; NICHD,
sive Assessment of Spoken Language (CASL-2; 2005). Items on the parental school involve-
Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999), a performance-based, ment subscale assessed how frequently the
standardized assessment of language for indi- parent initiated or received different types of
viduals 3–21 years old. All child participants contact from the child’s school or teacher
completedtheSyntaxConstructionandPrag- (e.g.,“Ireceiveawrittenreportonmychild’s
matic Judgment subtests; higher scores indi- progress or activities”), while items on the
cate greater language skills. The CASL-2 has parent-teacher relationship subscale assessed
demonstrated good construct validity and theparent’sfeelingsabouttheirinteractions,
strongreliabilitiesof.90andhigher(Carrow- communications,andrelationshipspecifically
Woolfolk, 1999). The measure has been withtheteacher(e.g.,“Ifeelcomfortabletalk-
widely used among children with autism, as ing with my child’s teacher”). On these sub-
wellaschildrenwithlanguagedelays,aphasia, scales, higher scores indicate higher levels of
andintellectualdisabilities(e.g.,Reichow,Sal- parental school involvement and perceptions
amack,Paul,Volkmar,&Klin,2008);itsinclu- of the parent-teacher relationship, respec-
sionofverbalandnonverbalresponses,inde- tively.ThePTIQ-Phasshowngoodpredictive
pendent of reading and writing, is also validity with measures of child academic en-
advantageous. gagement and student-teacher relationship
Childliteracyskills. Childrenwereadminis- quality in young children, and has distin-
tered the following subtests of the Woodcock- guished between high- and low-risk families
JohnsonIIINormativeUpdateTestsofAchievement (Corrigan, 2002). In the current sample,
(Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2007), each Cronbach’salphawas.60fortheinvolvement
ofwhichwasselectedtoassessacentralaspect subscaleand.94fortherelationshipsubscale.
of literacy: Letter-Word Identification (letter The relatively low alpha for the involvement
and word knowledge), Word Attack (pho- subscale is consistent with a technical report
nics), and Picture Vocabulary (vocabulary). published by the NICHD (Corrigan, 2002),
Parents’EducationalExpectations / 361
and it likely reflects the fact that it included participants, and less than 5% were missing
itemsreflectingbothparents’behaviors(e.g., forparent-reportquestionnairesandchildas-
asking the teacher questions about one’s sessment measures. Teacher-report data were
child), and teacher and school practices that missingfor23%ofthesample.ResultsofLit-
arenotunderparentalcontrolorthatparents tle’s Missing Completely at Random (MCAR)
maynotknowasmuchabout(despitereceiv- Test suggested that data were missing com-
ing a written report about the child’s daily pletelyatrandom[(cid:2)2(10,N(cid:2)85–93)(cid:2)6.39,
activities,oralogentry). p (cid:2) .78]. Thus, to avoid the loss of statistical
powerassociatedwithlistwisedeletionofmiss-
ingteacherdata,multipleimputationwasap-
Procedure
pliedinfiveiterationstoestimatecontinuous
Participantsweredrawnfromamulti-site,lon- missingvaluesonthescalelevel.
gitudinal study of school adaptation among
children with ASD. At an initial visit at study
offices, children were assessed for eligibility Results
with the Autism Diagnostic Observation
Schedule (ADOS; Lord et al., 2000) and a DescriptiveAnalysesofParents’Educational
brief battery of Wechsler Preschool and Pri- Expectations
mary Scale of Intelligence, 3rd Edition
(WPPSI-III; Wechsler, 2002). This battery in- Qualitative analysis of parents’ interview re-
cludedtheMatrixReasoning,Vocabulary,and sponsesshowedthat17%ofparentsexpressed
Picture Completion subtests, which has dem- whollypositiveexpectations,withnoconcerns
onstrated high reliability and convergent va- fortheschoolyearahead(code(cid:2)4,“success-
lidity with the complete WPPSI-III (Sattler, ful”). These parents believed that their chil-
2008). Eligible participants were those who dren would succeed in school and discussed
(a) scored in the autism or autism spectrum only positive factors, such as children’s read-
range on the ADOS, (b) had received a pre- ing ability or comprehensive supports pro-
vious diagnosis of ASD from an out-of-school videdthroughtheIEP.Thelargestpercentage
clinicianoralsoscoredintheautismorautism of parents (48%) expressed mostly positive
spectrum range on the Autism Diagnostic In- expectations, but also one or two concerns
terview – Revised (ADI-R; Lord, Rutter, & Le about the upcoming school year (code (cid:2) 3,
Coulter, 1994), (c) earned an estimated IQ “mostlysuccessful”).Frequently,theseparents
score of 50 or higher on the abbreviated discussedrelativelystrongacademicskillsand
WPPSI-III battery, and (d) were ages 4 to 7 relatively weak social skills, as well as one or
yearsandenteringelementaryschoolortheir two issues (e.g., a problem behavior) that
final year of pre-K. Participating child and could cause challenges at school. Some par-
parentdyadsreturnedtostudyofficesforad- ents(29%)hadmostlynegativeexpectations,
ditionaldatacollectionaftertheeligibilityvis- citing three or more concerns, but still ex-
it; parents were also given a questionnaire pressed some guarded optimism and hope
packetforthechild’steachertocompleteand (code(cid:2)2,“somewhatsuccessful”).Thesepar-
mail back to the study offices. Although this ents often expressed concerns about the
was a multi-wave study, data presented here greater school environment, including chil-
were from the first time point following the dren’seducationalteammemberswhomthey
eligibility visit. Informed consents were ob- feltwerenotmeetingtheirresponsibilities,or
tainedfromallparentsandteachersincluded accommodationsintheIEPthatwerenotbe-
inthestudy,andtheyreceivedanhonorarium ing provided. Six percent of parents had
for their participation. IRB approval was ob- whollynegativeexpectationsanddidnotiden-
tainedforallaspectsofthestudy. tifyanypositive,hopeful,orprotectivefactors
thatcouldhelptheirchildrenadjusttoschool
(code(cid:2)1,“notatallsuccessful”).Thus,about
DataAnalyses
a third of parents had negative expectations
AnalyseswereperformedwithSPSS22.0.Par- about their child’s performance and experi-
ent interview data were complete for all 121 enceinschool(seeTable1).
362 / EducationandTraininginAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities-December2017
TABLE 1
Parents’QualitativeResponsesRegardingEducationalExpectations(N(cid:2)121)
%of
Code Interpretation sample Illustrativequotes
4 “successful”(cid:2)parentsexhibited 17 “Ithinkhe’sgoingtonailkindergarten.Healreadyis.
onlypositiveexpectationsabout Theteachertoldmynannythatshe’snevergivenso
theirchild’sschooling manyawardstoakidbefore,andthatwasinmid-
October...the academics of kindergarten, he’s
alreadywellabovewhereheshouldbe.”
3 “mostlysuccessful”(cid:2)parents 48 “Ifeelhe’salwaysdonewellandwillthisyearalso.I
exhibitedmainlypositive think.Hethrivesinthatconstant-typeschool
expectationsabouttheirchild’s schedule ... understanding how to behave in
schooling,butalsodiscussed1–2 school, he’s doing very well. He’s thriving in that
concerns kind of structured environment... in all things
except straight academics, first-grader level-type
stuff, I think he’s going to do well this year. Of
course, that’s part of an IEP, whatever level he’s
academically. We don’t really have expectations
about[academics].”
2 “somewhatsuccessful”(cid:2)parents 29 “Academically,Ithinkhe’sgoingtobeabletostayon
exhibitedmainlynegative track... however, I have worries that he’s just not
expectationsfortheirchild’s going to be able to work independently enough to
schooling,citing3ormore function well in a class. Again, I think he’s very
concerns,butalsoexpressed immature. It really worries me that he might not fit
guardedoptimismandhope in with the other kids who are at first-grade
mentality. I think socially he’s going to really, really
struggle.”
1 “notatallsuccessful”(cid:2)parents 6 “Idon’tknow.He’sgoingtohaveahardtime.We
exhibitedwhollynegative alreadyhadameetingbecausehe’snotdoingwell
expectationsandhaddifficulty transitioningandhasbeenrefusingtogotoschool.
identifyinganypositive,hopeful, So,I’mworriedhe’snotgoingtodowellthisyear.”
orprotectivefactors
FactorsAssociatedwithParents’Educational Parent- and family-level factors. Higher par-
Expectations ent educational expectations were associated
with higher levels of parental education
Child-level factors. Higher parent educa-
[rs(119) (cid:2) .19, p (cid:2) .04]. Male parents were
tionalexpectationswereassociatedwithlower
observedtoholdhigherexpectationsthanfe-
levels of parent-reported internalizing prob-
lems[rs(119)(cid:2)(cid:3).24,p(cid:2).01],externalizing male parents [t(119) (cid:2) 2.19, p (cid:2) .03], but
problems [rs(119) (cid:2) (cid:3).34, p (cid:4) .001], ASD since the vast majority of parent participants
symptoms [rs(119) (cid:2) (cid:3).29, p (cid:4) .01], and were female, this finding should be inter-
marginally with children’s age [rs(119) (cid:2) pretedwithcaution.Parentexpectationswere
(cid:3).20, p (cid:2) .06. Higher parents’ expectations not associated with employment status or
also were associated with emerging reading householdincome.
skills [rs(119) (cid:2) .24, p (cid:4) .01] and phonics Teacher- and school-level factors. Higher par-
skills[rs(119)(cid:2).19,p(cid:2).04],andmarginally ent educational expectations were associated
with greater social skills [rs(119) (cid:2) .18, p (cid:2) with more positive perceptions of the quality
.06]. Parents’ expectations were not associ- of the parent-teacher relationship [rs(119) (cid:2)
atedwithchildgender,IQ,orlanguageskills .19, p (cid:2) .04], and marginally with smaller
(pragmatic language, syntactical language classroomsizes[rs(119)(cid:2)(cid:3).17,p(cid:2).08].As
skills,orvocabulary;seeTable2). compared to parents who reported lower ex-
Parents’EducationalExpectations / 363
TABLE 2
DescriptiveStatisticsandRelationsbetweenChild-LevelFactorsandParents’Expectations
%inBorderlineor Relationwith
N(%of ClinicallyElevated Parents’
Sample) Range M SD Median Range Expectations
Parents’expectations 121 1–4 2.78 .80 3 — —
Child-levelfactors
Gender 121 83%male — — — — t(119)(cid:2).69
EstimatedIQ 121 46–123 89.6 17.1 90 13.3/12.4 .01
Age(months) 121 44–90 66.2 11.8 67 — (cid:3).17†
Socialskills 121 40–120 78.9 15.0 79 27.6/24.1 .18†
Internalizingbehavior 118 34–93 62.4 9.9 63 22.0/42.4 (cid:3).24*
Externalizingbehavior 118 32–88 58.9 10.4 59 16.1/31.4 (cid:3).34***
ASDsymptoms 120 46–90 78.1 11.6 81 21.8/22.7 (cid:3).29**
Language:Syntax 120 41–152 84.5 19.0 85.5 19.0/21.7 .07
Language:PragmaticJudgment 120 43–142 81.9 17.8 81.5 17.5/31.7 .02
Literacy:Letter-WordIdentification 121 49–156 111.1 18.3 111 1.6/1.6 .24**
Literacy:WordAttack 104 65–156 114.3 17.7 114 1.0/3.0 .19*
Literacy:PictureVocabulary 121 14–137 96.7 15.9 98 6.4/2.5 .07
Note. ***p(cid:4).001. **p(cid:4).01. *p(cid:4).05.†p(cid:4).10.
pectations, parents held higher expectations skills were very highly correlated with each
whentheyexperiencedapositiverelationship other [r (119) (cid:2) .79, p (cid:4) .001] and to avoid
with their child’s teacher; their expectations multicollinearity,thephonicskillsvariablewas
were slightly lower when their children were excludedfromthemodel.Aparent/family-level
attendinglargerclasses.Parents’expectations factor, parents’ education, was entered in the
were not associated with teacher education secondstep.Finally,ateacher/school-levelfactor,
level,yearsofteachingexperience,amountof parent-teacher relationship quality, was en-
timethechildspendsingeneraleducation,or tered in the third step. When these factors
levelofparentalschoolinvolvement. were considered simultaneously, only exter-
nalizingbehavior(B(cid:2)(cid:3).09,SE(cid:2).03,OR(cid:2)
.91, p (cid:4) .01) significantly predicted parents’
RegressionAnalyses expectations (see Table 3). Specifically, par-
ents with children who exhibited fewer chal-
Inthefinalsetofanalyses,thechild-,parent/
lenging behaviors reported more positive ex-
family-, and teacher/school-level factors
pectations for the school year ahead, as
found to be significantly correlated with par-
comparedtoparentswithchildrenwhoexhib-
ents’ expectations were entered as predictors
itedmorebehaviorproblems.
into a binary logistic regression. Given the
ordinalnatureoftheparentexpectationvari-
able,itwasdichotomized(codesof3and4(cid:2)
Discussion
“higher expectations”, codes of 1 and 2 (cid:2)
“lowerexpectations”)beforebeingenteredas Many parents of children with ASD were op-
the dependent variable. The logistic regres- timisticabouttheschoolyearahead,withthe
sion contained three steps. Child-level factors majority expressing mostly positive expecta-
including internalizing behavior, externaliz- tions and only mild concerns (48%), and
ingbehavior,ASDsymptoms,emergingread- some expressing wholly positive expectations
ingskills,andvocabularyskillswereenteredin andnoconcernsatall(17%).Thesegenerally
the first step. While phonics skills also were positive expectations were consistent with
significantly correlated with parents’ expecta- Ivey’s (2004) findings and may set an early,
tions, phonics skills and emerging reading positivetoneforinteractionsamongstudents,
364 / EducationandTraininginAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities-December2017
TABLE 3
SummaryofBinaryLogisticRegressionAnalysisforChild-,Parent/Family-,andTeacher/School-Level
VariablesPredictingParents’Expectations
B SE AdjustedOR
Step1:Child-levelfactors
Internalizingbehavior .02 .03 1.02
Externalizingbehavior (cid:3).09** .03 .91
ASDsymptoms (cid:3).03 .03 .98
Emergingreadingskills .02 .02 1.02
Vocabularyskills .00 .02 1.00
Step2:Parent/family-levelfactor
Parenteducation
Highschoolorless 1.23 1.11 3.44
Somecollege .39 .93 1.47
Collegedegree (cid:3).19 .87 .83
Master’sdegree .02 .91 1.02
Step3:Teacher/school-levelfactor
Parent-teacherrelationshipquality .03 .03 1.03
Note. ***p(cid:4).001. **p(cid:4).01. *p(cid:4).05.†p(cid:4).10.Thistablereflectsimputeddata.
parents,andteachers.Althoughaboutathird Uniquetothecurrentstudywastheextent
ofparentsdidexpressnegativeviews,ourfind- to which children’s behavioral characteristics
ingssuggestthatnegativeexpectationsarerel- and ASD symptoms were associated with par-
atively less common among parents of young ents’expectations.Indeed,whenotherfactors
childrenwithASD.Thus,whenschoolprofes- were accounted for, children’s externalizing
sionals do encounter parents with low expec- problems were the sole predictor of parents’
tations, they should try to understand and educational expectations. Surprisingly, par-
addressthereasonswhyparentsmightbefeel- ents’ educational expectations were uncorre-
ing less optimistic. Based on the assumption latedwithchildren’sintelligenceorestimated
thatparents’expectationsmayplayanimpor- IQ – a departure from the findings of some
tantrolefortypicallydevelopingchildrenand previousnon-ASDstudies(e.g.,Johnsonetal.,
children with ASD alike, it is important to 2007; Sonuga-Barke et al., 1995). Behavioral
understand and address the barriers to par- development and adjustment are areas of
entsholdingpositiveeducationalexpectations need for many children with ASD; as such,
for their children with ASD. Specifically, the these areas are more salient on a day-to-day
current study revealed that parents held low basis and likely more closely reflected in par-
expectations for their children’s school out- ents’ expectations than IQ or academic fac-
comeswhentheirchildrenexhibitedexternal- tors. Another paper with the same sample as
izing behavior problems. Although this study the current study indicated that behavioral
was correlational and could not address cau- challenges, more so than intellectual chal-
sality,thisfindingsuggeststhatearlyinterven- lenges, accounted for difficulties with school
tionproviderswouldparticularlybenefitfrom adjustment(citationremovedforanonymous
training in addressing challenging behaviors peerreview).Thecurrentfindingsreflectthe
and in coaching parents to respond to these factors that may help to align IEP goals and
behaviorsthemselves.Conversely,itispossible expectations between parents and teachers.
thatchildren’sexternalizingbehaviorsarein- Additionally, this understanding may help
terferingwithsuccessinschoolandindirectly teachers and parents shape behavioral and
affecting parents’ expectations, thus under- socio-emotional curriculum development in
scoring the importance of supporting teach- theclassroom.
ers to address challenging behaviors in the In addition to child-level characteristics,
classroom. some relations were observed between par-
Parents’EducationalExpectations / 365
ents’expectationsandparent/family-levelfac- majority of our child participants attended
tors and teacher/school-level factors. Within publicschools,thusreflectingtheeducational
Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) microsystem, par- experiencesofthemajorityofyoungchildren
ents who reported higher educational levels withASDintheUnitedStates.
heldmorepositiveexpectationsfortheirchil- Itislikewiseimportanttonotethatcurrent
dren’s schooling than parents who reported findings may not generalize to the school ex-
lower educational levels. Within Bronfen- periencesofchildrenwithASDandmoderate-
brenner’s(1979)mesosystem,parentswhore- to-severe intellectual disability. Also, many
ported a positive or higher relationship qual- participating families were economically re-
ity with their child’s teacher also reported sourced. While household income was not
higher academic expectations, compared to found to be significantly correlated with par-
parents who reported a negative or lower re- ents’ expectations, our findings may not cap-
lationship quality with their child’s teacher. ture the experiences of economically disad-
Parents’positivereportsoftheparent-teacher vantaged parents of children with ASD. As is
relationship may indicate a strong working the case with all interview data, there is the
relationship with the teacher, a belief in the possibilityofsocialdesirabilityeffects,orthat
teacher’s capabilities to meet the needs of parents may have overemphasized the extent
theirchild,andparents’activeinvolvementin to which they felt positive about school. Also
school – all factors, logically, that could in- as noted, the correlational nature of the cur-
crease parents’ academic expectations. Inter- rent study cannot speak to causality or to
estingly, parents’ perceptions of parent- transactionalrelations.Specifically,itisuncer-
teacher relationship quality were significantly tain whether parents held high expectations
correlated with their expectations for the for their children because they noticed chil-
school year, while parents’ self-reported in- dren’sstrengths,whetherchildrendeveloped
volvementwiththeschoolwasnot.Similarto greaterstrengthsinresponsetotheirparents’
ourfindings,Zablotskyandcolleagues(2012) positive expectations, or whether there were
found that parents’ level of school involve- unmeasured variables that influenced both
mentwasuncorrelatedwiththeiroverallsatis- expectationsandchildoutcomes.
factionwiththeschoolamongparentsofchil- Animportantareaforfutureinvestigationis
drenwithASD.Thesefindingssuggestthatit whether parents’ expectations play a unique
isimportanttoconsiderthenatureandqual- roleinpredictinglaterschooladjustmentand
ity of parents’ interactions with their child’s academicoutcomesforchildrenwithASD,as
teacher and school – not just the quantity – they may for typically developing children
when examining the relation between paren- (e.g., de Boer & van der Werf, 2015). In-
tal school involvement and their feelings creased understanding of parents’ expecta-
abouttheirchild’sschoolexperiences. tions, and the different factors they consider
when forming these expectations, may ulti-
mately inform supports for parents as they
StrengthsandLimitations
navigateschoolingfortheirchildwithASD.
The current study contains multiple method-
ological strengths, including a large sample
recruitedfromthecommunity,theuseofthe References
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code qualitative interview data. The current VT:UniversityofVermontDepartmentofPsychi-
atry.
study also benefited from a high rate of
Achenbach,T.M.,&Rescorla,L.A.(2001).Manual
teacher participation. While children’s level
for the ASEBA school-age forms & profiles. Burling-
of cognitive functioning was not found to be
ton,VT:UniversityofVermont,ResearchCenter
significantly correlated with parents’ expecta-
forChildren,Youth,&Families.
tions,theinclusionofchildrenwitharangeof Alexander,K.L.,Entwisle,D.R.,&Bedinger,S.D.
cognitiveabilitiesincreasestheexternalvalid- (1994).Whenexpectationswork:Raceandsocio-
ityandapplicabilityofourwork.Further,the economicdifferencesinschoolperformance.So-
366 / EducationandTraininginAutismandDevelopmentalDisabilities-December2017