From Serving Families to Community Awareness

For school professionals to work effectively with families that have children with exceptional needs, they must be equipped with the knowledge and skills to connect families with community resources. This study examines the learning outcome of a course designed to expose graduate students to interacting with families and learning about the community through direct services. Results show that students' sense of self-efficacy, beliefs in families, and perceived knowledge in community resources significantly increased at the end of the semester.