Tom and Barb Klein (center back row) with students from St. John Fisher College - Fall 2008

The Advocacy Center is now in the fourth year of a partnership with St. John Fisher College.  This partnership,  supported by the Fred & Floy Willmott Foundation, provides future teachers with the experience and skills needed to build positive relationships with families of children with disabilities.

The collaboration began with Dr. Mike Wischnowski, and now involves Dr. Marie Cianca, both of the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. School of Education at St. John Fisher College.  The purpose is to develop collaborative partnerships between future teachers and parents of children with disabilities.

Over the course of a semester, teams of parents and students meet several times. The parents, who have all participated in a two-day conference at The Advocacy Center to learn public speaking skills, tell their stories to the class.   The students learn through the parents’ stories about best practices of teaching and collaboration and about barriers to positive relationships. The students receive a research assignment from the family, tailored to their child’s education. Communication continues through the semester, as students learn the importance of ongoing communication with families. At the end of the semester, student teams deliver their research to the entire class as well as the parents.

The future teachers build skills in phone communication, interpretation of evaluations and records, letter writing, conferencing, research, and development of educational recommendations. Most of all, they gain an appreciation for the parent perspective.

"This experience gave me the confidence to work with parents and the ability to see where the parents are coming from."

"We learned understanding and empathy for parents and children.  This not only helped us develop as people but as future teachers.  We hope to carry this understanding through to our classrooms." 

~ quotes from St. John Fisher College Students