ABSTRACT
A critical element of effective teaching is to build collaborative relationships with families to support student learning and to enable students to access needed services and supports. This chapter describes seven partnership principles that can be implemented to promote positive interactions, joint roles and responsibilities, and reciprocity to enhance student learning and access to supports and services. It focuses on strategies for building family–school partnerships because of the role of the entire family system in supporting children with disabilities and their parents in achieving successful outcomes. The chapter then describes strategies to communicate effectively with families and ways to ensure communication strategies are responsive to the diverse needs of family members. It provides specific recommendations for collaborating with families and building family-professional partnerships. The chapter also describes ways that partnership principles and communication strategies can be applied to benefit all partners and enhance student learning outcomes.
