Findings
Analysis of the interview data yielded two major categories: (a) families
and their children with special needs, and (b) families and the children's
education. Because the focus of this article is on ways in which language and
ethnicity seemed to affect the parents' efforts to deal with the educational
establishment, the findings reported here are taken primarily from the second
category and concludes with the parents' suggestions for improving
opportunities for parental involvement. However, the efforts of all members
of the families to meet the special needs of these children, and the parents'
attitudes toward this aspect of their lives, is of particular relevance to parental
involvement in these children's education and will be touched on here briefly.