Improving Parent-Teacher Communication through Recorded Telephone Messages: Systematic Replication in a Special Education Classroom

Abstract

Six students in an elementary special education classroom served as subjects in a study conducted to evaluate the effects of a parent-teacher communication system which used a daily recorded telephone message as a communications link between parents and the students' teacher. An ABAB reversal design was used to determine 1) if parents would use the system; 2) if inclusion of the next day's spelling words would increase students' performance on in-class spelling tests; and 3) if parents would comply with teacher requests made via the recorded messages. Results of the experiment show the system was used regularly, three of the six students' spelling performance improved as a function of the message system, and families complied with recorded teacher requests at a higher rate than when those requests were made by sending a note home with the child. This study extends to the special education classroom the findings of a similar experiment conducted in a regular second grade classroom.