Personnel Preparation for Preservice Early Intervention Providers: Supporting Families' Participation in University Classrooms

Parent involvement in preservice teacher education is an important component of that preparation. Parents' stories of their everyday experiences having an infant/toddler with disabilities can bring insights to future interventionists that no one else can provide. How do we get parents into the university classrooms? How do we help them tell their stories? How do we support their efforts to work with university instructors? This paper examines how a 2-day workshop helped parents develop skills to enhance their presentation abilities and feel comfortable telling their stories to preservice teacher education candidates. This paper also examines parents' success, preservice students' feelings, and university instructors' perceptions of parent involvement in university classes.