Parental Advocacy for Students with Special Needs: A Systematic Review Study

Abstract

This systematic survey study explores parental advocacy for students with special needs. Challenges, barriers and advocacy strategies are examined to understand how parents advocate. The SCOPUS and Web of Science (WoS) databases are used to find advocacy-related articles over the past 10 years from 2010 to 2021. A total of 80 articles with 60 studies from SCOPUS and 20 studies from WoS were identified through the PRISMA flow chart process. Findings revealed inadequate information, negative perceptions, language and cultural differences, insufficient knowledge, the presence of stereotypes and discrimination as well as differences in socioeconomic levels as barriers to parental advocacy.  Some of the strategies adopted to advocate for the special children are communication with the special schools, the sharing of knowledge and purposes and provision of professional services to support the schools. Collaboration between parents and the school is identified to be the main medium that ensures the educational needs and rights of the students with special needs are met.  A more conducive and meaningful learning environment for these students requires the involvement of multiple parties.