Family Foundations for Special Education Trial (SS-SE)

Family Foundations for Special Education

The goal of this clinical trial is to assess the program's impact on parent self-efficacy and co-parental support around (a) accessing health and educational services and (b) parenting for co-parents of children with disabilities entering the Special Education system before their first Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting. The main questions it aims to answer are: Does the program improve co-parenting support and coordination and parent efficacy in accessing services for and parenting their child? Does the program improve parent mental health, service access, engagement, and adherence? Does the program improve parenting quality? Does the program improve child adjustment (mental and behavioral health, academic engagement)? Researchers will compare pretest and posttest questionnaires from Treatment Group A with Control Group B to see if the program improves parent and child well-being, co-parenting relations, relations with service providers, ability to access services and meaningfully participate in IEP and other meetings.

Participants will:

• Complete pre- and post-test questionnaires
• Treatment Group A will participate in 6 learning sessions, each 1 hour to 1½ hour long, over a 6-8 week period

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Mental Health
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Family Foundations for Special Education

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 120
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Samantha A. Murray-Perdue, PhD; Phone Number: 4199561701; Email: sxm1726@psu.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19102
      • Recruiting
      • Public Health Management Corporation

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Parents/parental figures who are over the age of 18, and are involved in childrearing together.
• Coparenting a child being evaluated for special education services
• Has not yet had their first IEP meeting.
• The target child must attend a Philadelphia elementary school (K-8).
• The target child must be the first child in the family to go through the IEP process.
• Co-parents must be fluent in English.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Prevention
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Group A; Group A will receive FF-SE in six virtual learning sessions to receive information on the special education system and methods to improve communications and working together as co-parents to enhance their IEP experience. The duration of each session will be between 1 to 1 ½ hour long and will be scheduled weekly according to the participants preferred scheduled. A workbook with supporting documents for each session will be mailed and/or emailed to each participant prior to the start of the sessions.	Behavioral: Family Foundations for Special Education; Families in the intervention group receive the new enhanced supports and participate in six private virtual learning sessions focused on understanding the special education system, improving communication, and enhancing collaboration as co-parents in the IEP process. Each session lasts 60-90 minutes and will be scheduled weekly according to the participants preferred schedule, including evenings and weekends. A workbook with supporting documents for each session will be sent to each participant prior to the start of the sessions.; Other Names: FF-SE
No Intervention: Group B; Group B will have access to existing standard supports available to families entering the special education system.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Coparenting Relationship Questionnaire	A validated, parent-report questionnaire on key dimensions of the coparenting relationship.	From enrollment to the last learning session for intervention group, approximately 2 months after enrollment for the control group.
Parenting Sense of Competence Scale	Parent-reported, 17 item scale (Gibaud-Wallston & Wandersman, 1978) assessing parent self-efficacy in accessing services for their child. Higher scores reflect higher degree of sense of competence.	From pretest to two months post-intervention

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Penn State University
• Collaborators: William Penn Foundation; Public Health Management Corporation

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 12, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): March 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): December 30, 2026

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 17, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 6, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): February 10, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): February 10, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 6, 2026
• Last Verified: February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: parenting education; Coparenting; Special Education; children with disabilities; children with challenging behaviors; parenting relationships
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavior; Personal Satisfaction; Psychological Well-Being
• Other Study ID Numbers: STUDY00025916; 218-23 (Other Grant/Funding Number: William Penn Foundation)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No