Adult-Child Interactions, the Ranches near Irapuato, Guanajato, Mexico
A Field Study Proposal
Statement of Intent
My purpose in going to Mexico is to observe adult interactions and relationships with children. I would like to understand what interactions are appropriate and know what the role of the adult and the child is in these interactions. It is important for me to learn what the expectations are between adult and child in different situations or settings.
This understanding is significant to me. I work in homes providing early intervention services for families from Mexico who have children with special needs. If I am going to be effective in their homes I must first understand their culture and perspectives. I go into their homes and share ideas on things they can do through their interactions with their child to help their child progress and grow developmentally. There is a problem with this because the ideas and suggestions I leave are based off of my understanding of what is appropriate between a parent and child from my culture not from theirs.
I need to know how these parents view their own interactions with their children. I must distinguish what is appropriate in their culture when interacting with a child and I need to identify what the child and parent’s expectations are in that interaction. The norms and cultural context are different in each society. If the parents are to effectively apply the suggestions I leave to help them help their child I must suggest things that would be appropriate from their understanding and cultural points of view. I have to achieve this cultural understanding so that I can in effectively provide strategies to help these families. This knowledge will enable me to become more or less a broker between the parent and child. Then will the intervention strategies that I provide for these families become useful and valuable.
From these findings I expect to change my views and expectations of interactions between children who have special needs and their families. In the future how I approach the families I work with here from Mexico will change.
I would also like to complete this study to help me determine future decisions of my education. I have always loved other countries and living with other people. It is so wonderful to understand and see things from their perspective. I have contemplated going into a master’s program along this area of interest. I want to study different people and how they view the world. This experience will help me to decide if this is the area in which I would like to continue my education.
My own intervention ideas and strategies will then be aligned with parents expectations for their children and the parents will be more willing to implement those strategies. As the strategies are more fully implemented by the parents the children will make better gains in their developmental progress. I expect that there will not be any special education teachers or special education resources available to them. I do however expect that children who have less significant learning delays or disabilities will be included in the regular classroom setting. Due to the children’s delays or disabilities I hypothesize that teacher’s interactions with these children will be more frequent and will involve a wider range of attitudes and emotions then those the teacher has with other typical students.
Background and Significance & Literature Review
Irapuato was founded in 1547 and has a population of around 342,500. Agriculture is the main industry of this city and the area is well known for its strawberries. Surrounding Irapuato are numerous outlying communities. My field study is an appropriate fit for this location mainly because it does have outlying communities where some of the historic and cultural ideals have been preserved. I specifically want to understand what interactions take place between adults and children from this culture. I will live in this rural area and will be able to observe adult child interactions in their cultural context to gain this understanding.
There are also schools in each of these outlying communities where I will be able to observe interactions between teachers and students. I would also like to observe interactions that take place in the homes between parent and child. The schools will allow me access to the teachers and children. Then as I come to know the children and their parents through my relationship with the teacher it is likely that I will be able to get into homes in the community and work with these children.
Interactions between child-parent differ from culture to culture
Within a cultural there are many sub cultures. This then impacts
Expectations differ for these children
Teacher- child interactions vary as well
Overall intervention is not effective if you do not come from their cultural viewpoints.
Since I work with children who have special needs I would like to see what variance there are between interactions between adults and typical children in comparison with the interactions between adults and children with special needs. Culturally there is a negative stigma towards children who have special needs. This potentially could make it harder to observe these situations to understand what might be appropriate in these interactions between and adult and a child who has special needs.
Bronstein said it best when he said, “In seeking to understand the relationships between childrearing practices, culture, family social environment, and child’s social and emotional development, there is much to be gained from measuring parent-child interactions as it occurs spontaneously in the home, observing both mothers and fathers with older children.” (
Making these observations which will allow me to understand adult child interactions and expectations of children in Mexico is significant. Research shows that intervention is not affective across cultures if norms or cultural paradigms are not taken into consideration. If I want to become affective when providing intervention strategies for families from Mexico I must apply my ideas or techniques in their cultural context. If I do not gain this understanding then the interventions I share will be ineffective and meaningless.
Much information about attitudes and perceptions of these children has been gathered previously. Some of this information is specific to location and cultures. Much of what has been gathered connects to the family. What are the feelings of these families and what are the emotions they are dealing with. Then it looks at how these emotions impact the family unit.
Methodology/Procedures
In order for this information to be gathered I must first build rapport with the people from this community. I believe this rapport is built by becoming an active participant of the community and as well by connecting on a personal level with individuals and families. I will begin by showing a sincere desire to learn about their culture. I will have to show to them that I feel their cultural interactions are important to me and can help me become more
In order for this information to be gathered I will first need to build rapport with the families and community I will be working with. My first month and possibly even more time will be dedicated to building this rapport.
To be an active participant of the community I must do things the way they do things, know about the concerns that face the community, and be willing to serve and give back to the community. This process will have begun even before I go to Mexico. I will study and learn about this area now so that when I go there, I will already have a good understanding of them and what is important to them as a whole. For example I will have an understanding of their history, how they became who they are. As well I will learn about their current situation and challenges they may be facing in the future. Understanding where someone comes from and being aware of their concerns helps to show awareness and a genuine care which can bond and strengthen the relation I will have with those there. When I am there I will take part in the things that they do as a community to show my support and I will do my best to fit in and do things the way they do things.
To connect to people on a personal and family level I will have to sincerely come to know them and care about them. These relationships can be built by spending time together. I will do activities they do in their homes with them. As I do what they do I will gain greater insight into what their lives are like. Then as I begin to see things from their perspective and can more fully understand them, I will in turn be able to support and strengthen them. I must be aware of their life and what matters to them. Conversations will aid this as well as confiding in them. If I go with a desire to learn from them I will bond with them as they teach me.
The population I will be sampling will be very small. I hope only to reflect on the perceptions of a few families and then the perception of that specific small community that I will be living in. These perceptions will come mainly from mothers and hopefully a few fathers.
These people that I will be gathering my sample from will be those whom I have come to know. It will be the people I have come close to because they have been willing to spend time with me and we have build and developed a good rapport. This is a heavy issue and so the only way to gain access or insights is through those who want to and choose to open up and share information with me.
This information will be gathered in a variety of different ways. Observations will be done in homes where there is a child with special needs or disabilities. Interviews will also be conducted with those who have children with special needs. Due to the sensitivity of my topic and to protect these families only observations will be conducted to more fully understand how those in the community view them. This will lead to much hypothesis when drawing conclusions about their understanding, but it is the more ethical way to approach this topic.
The method which I will use, interviewing, to gather insight into parents’ perceptions will lead me to conclusions for my field study purpose. I will have to be immersed in their culture and see things how they see things if I’m going to accurately reflect their perceptions and understanding. Due to language there may be some barriers. I speak Spanish, but not perfectly. There is sure to be some miscommunications. Even with the words translated correctly there can be some confusion due to different interpretations or meanings of those words. To address these problems I will need to clarify meanings and verify what has been said and what I understand to have been said.
Ethics and Approval
To maintain confidentiality of the information that has been gathered will be unidentifiable. Genders and ages of the children will be known but names and places will be left confidential. This will help to protect the identities of those families I will be working with. These people will participate because they want to not because they feel an obligation. The interviews will be conducted through casual conversation. If a parent does not wish to answer something I’m sure they would change the conversation. I as the one conducting this interview will have to be aware of those feelings and respect the change of direction of the conversation. I will not continue to press and issue if they have avoided answering.
To minimize risk and mazimize be….reciprocity
Preliminary Plans for Post-field Application
This field experience will benefit me greatly in the future. I plan to continue working in the early intervention field as a developmental specialist. Since I speak Spanish I will be working with Hispanic families who have children with disabilities. The majority of which are from Mexico. This experience will give me insight into how these parents view their child who has special needs. Their understanding of their child impacts their involvement and interactions with them. This inquiry will allow me to see things how they see things and then allow me, because I am coming from their point of view, to know how to better help them.
I am also trying to look into masters programs. I love cultures and seeing how people view the world. This experience will permit me to live in another culture and study how they see things. Through this experience I will see if this is really the direction I would like my education to go as I go forward with these plans.
Qualifications and Limitations
I am qualified to participate in this field study program for a variety of different reasons. I
This information will be gathered in a variety of different ways. Observations will be done in homes where there is a child with special needs or disabilities. Interviews will be conducted with those who have children with special needs.
Work Cited
Brown, Randel, Contreras, Diana, Shepherd, Terry L. (2003). Special Education In Mexico: One Community’s Response. Teaching Exceptional Children. Vol. 34(5), 8-11.
Bronstein, P (1994). Patterns of Parent-Child Interaction in Mexican Families – A Cross-Cultural-Perspective. International Journal of behavioral development. Vol. 17(3), p. 423-446.
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