They were saying that I was a ‘typical Chinese mum’: Chinese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children

Jodie Smith; Aspasia Stacey Rabba; Lin Cong; Poulomee Datta; Emma Dresens; Gabrielle Hall; Melanie Heyworth; Wenn Lawson; Patricia Lee; Rozanna Lilley; Najeeba Syeda; Emily Ma; Julia Wang; Rena Wang; Chong Yeow; Elizabeth Pellicano

doi:10.1007/s10803-022-05748-z

They were saying that I was a ‘typical Chinese mum’: Chinese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children

Jodie Smith^*, Aspasia Stacey Rabba, Lin Cong, Poulomee Datta, Emma Dresens, Gabrielle Hall, Melanie Heyworth, Wenn Lawson, Patricia Lee, Rozanna Lilley, Najeeba Syeda, Emily Ma, Julia Wang, Rena Wang, Chong Yeow, Elizabeth Pellicano

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Effective parent-teacher partnerships improve outcomes for autistic students. Yet, we know little about what effective partnerships look like for parents of autistic children from different backgrounds. We conducted interviews with 17 Chinese parents of autistic children attending Australian kindergartens/schools to understand their experiences. Parents appreciated the acceptance, opportunities and supports they received in Australia. They had high expectations of children; expectations not often shared by educators. Parents were respectful of teachers’ expertise and polite and undemanding in interactions. Nevertheless, parents were frustrated by inconsistent teaching quality and inadequate communication. Navigating systems was also challenging and parents faced discrimination from teachers and their community. Recommendations include fostering open home-school communication, proactively seeking parents’ expertise about children and explicitly scaffolding parents’ self-advocacy.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4888–4900
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume	53
Issue number	12
Early online date	23 Sept 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05748-z
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Correction article can be found at Smith, J., Rabba, A.S., Cong, L. et al. Correction: “They Were Saying That I Was a Typical Chinese Mum”: Chinese Parents’ Experiences of Parent–Teacher Partnerships for Their Autistic Children. J Autism Dev Disord (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05788-5

Keywords

cultural and linguistic diversity
Chinese parents
parent-teacher partnerships
autistic students
participatory research

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10.1007/s10803-022-05748-zLicence: CC BY

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 846 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Smith, J., Rabba, A. S., Cong, L., Datta, P., Dresens, E., Hall, G., Heyworth, M., Lawson, W., Lee, P., Lilley, R., Syeda, N., Ma, E., Wang, J., Wang, R., Yeow, C., & Pellicano, E. (2023). They were saying that I was a ‘typical Chinese mum’: Chinese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 53(12), 4888–4900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05748-z

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title = "They were saying that I was a {\textquoteleft}typical Chinese mum{\textquoteright}: Chinese parents{\textquoteright} experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children",

abstract = "Effective parent-teacher partnerships improve outcomes for autistic students. Yet, we know little about what effective partnerships look like for parents of autistic children from different backgrounds. We conducted interviews with 17 Chinese parents of autistic children attending Australian kindergartens/schools to understand their experiences. Parents appreciated the acceptance, opportunities and supports they received in Australia. They had high expectations of children; expectations not often shared by educators. Parents were respectful of teachers{\textquoteright} expertise and polite and undemanding in interactions. Nevertheless, parents were frustrated by inconsistent teaching quality and inadequate communication. Navigating systems was also challenging and parents faced discrimination from teachers and their community. Recommendations include fostering open home-school communication, proactively seeking parents{\textquoteright} expertise about children and explicitly scaffolding parents{\textquoteright} self-advocacy.",

keywords = "cultural and linguistic diversity, Chinese parents, parent-teacher partnerships, autistic students, participatory research",

author = "Jodie Smith and Rabba, {Aspasia Stacey} and Lin Cong and Poulomee Datta and Emma Dresens and Gabrielle Hall and Melanie Heyworth and Wenn Lawson and Patricia Lee and Rozanna Lilley and Najeeba Syeda and Emily Ma and Julia Wang and Rena Wang and Chong Yeow and Elizabeth Pellicano",

note = "Copyright the Author(s) 2022. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher. Correction article can be found at Smith, J., Rabba, A.S., Cong, L. et al. Correction: “They Were Saying That I Was a Typical Chinese Mum”: Chinese Parents{\textquoteright} Experiences of Parent–Teacher Partnerships for Their Autistic Children. J Autism Dev Disord (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05788-5",

year = "2023",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s10803-022-05748-z",

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Smith, J, Rabba, AS, Cong, L, Datta, P, Dresens, E, Hall, G, Heyworth, M, Lawson, W, Lee, P, Lilley, R, Syeda, N, Ma, E, Wang, J, Wang, R, Yeow, C & Pellicano, E 2023, 'They were saying that I was a ‘typical Chinese mum’: Chinese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children', Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 53, no. 12, pp. 4888–4900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-022-05748-z

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They were saying that I was a ‘typical Chinese mum’: Chinese parents’ experiences of parent-teacher partnerships for their autistic children

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