VARIABLES THAT INFLUENCE COLLABORATION BETWEEN PARENTS AND SERVICE COORDINATORS

Within the field of early intervention, collaboration between professionals and parents is highly valued (Zipper, Well, and Rounds, 1991). Although practitioners have emphasized the importance of building partnerships with parents, little is known about the variables that affect partnership strength. The purpose of this investigation was to explore variables that either enhance or detract from successful partnerships. Using structured interviews, we found a number of characteristics and behaviors of parents and service coordinators that each group perceived as productive or unproductive. We also asked five experts to describe variables that either enhance or detract from collaboration. The results of this research have strong implications for early intervention practitioners and point to a need for validation of these results with a larger sample.