Special education needs in French Immersion: a parental perspective of supports and challenges

ABSTRACT

This study collected interview data from parents of five children identified as having special education needs who were attending or had attended a French Immersion program in Toronto, Ontario. The experiences of these families were qualitatively analyzed to uncover critical themes surrounding experiences and beliefs around French Immersion enrolment, educational supports and withdrawal for children with special education needs. The findings showed a relationship between the severity of a special education need and the amount of supports that were needed for a child in an immersion program as might be expected. A lack of accessibility to and availability of supports resulted in parents seeking external resources to help alleviate the learning difficulties of their children. This study highlights an impending need to improve the accessibility of supports in French Immersion in the form of assessments, resources and teacher training.

KEYWORDS:

• Special education
• accessibility in education
• bilingualism
• language acquisition
• French Immersion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Janani Selvachandran

Janani Selvachandran is a PhD Candidate in the Developmental Psychology and Education program at OISE/University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada. She is a graduate of the Child Study and Education Master of Arts program from the same university, where she obtained her qualifications as a teacher while completing her research thesis. Her dissertation focuses on exploring the contributions of discourse skills on literacy outcomes in emerging bilingual children enrolled in French Immersion programs.

Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird

Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird, PhD is a Professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia and a certified Speech-Language Pathologist. Her research focuses upon child language development and disorders with a particular focus on issues of cultural and linguistic diversity and bilingualism.

Jessica DeSousa

Jessica DeSousa is a Masters student in the Child Study and Education program at OISE/University of Toronto. She is conducting developmental language research with French Immersion children while completing her professional teaching degree.

Xi Chen

Xi Chen is a professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at OISE/University of Toronto. Her research specializes in language and literacy development of bilingual children. Her line of research involving children enrolled in French immersion programs focuses on (1) identification of and intervention for children at-risk for reading difficulties, and (2) cross-language transfer of language and literacy skills between English and French.