Senior Lecturer Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts, United States
Abstract Text: Within the past decade, an organization providing Early Intervention (EI) services around the state of Massachusetts has adopted the Parents Interacting with Infants model to provide more family-centered EI services. This model has interventionists coaching and empowering caregivers to support their children’s development through positive interactions. However, many South Asian immigrant caregivers who receive services from this organization often exhibit passive participation during EI sessions, despite repeated attempts by interventionists to involve them. Even though studies have shown that language barriers and differing cultural beliefs between interventionists and caregivers surrounding child development contribute to this apparent lack of engagement during EI sessions, research from the field of special education suggests that individual perceptions of power within professional-caregiver relationships also play a role in caregivers’ levels of engagement. To determine the power dynamics at play between South Asian caregivers and Early Interventionists at this EI organization, four different types of power are first described and related to EI and social stratification systems. Next, vignettes of caregiver-interventionist interactions are interpreted and discussed in the context of power dynamics and South Asian culture. Recommendations for future practice are also provided for each scenario. Finally, the potential of implementing a Power Analysis program across the organization, which can help interventionists recognize their own power and, in turn, help caregivers feel more comfortable advocating for their family’s needs, is explored. These explorations of power and recommendations for practice can be applied to other EI and clinical programs around the country, and with caregivers of different cultures, to help increase caregiver empowerment and engagement in these programs.
.png)
