# Cultural Reciprocity in Special Education

### Building Family–Professional Relationships

**by**  
**Maya Kalyanpur, Ph.D.**  
Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports  
Phnom Penh, Cambodia  
**and**  
**Beth Harry, Ph.D.**  
University of Miami  
Florida

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## Contents  
1. **Cultural Reflection in Special Education**  
   * 1. Cultural Underpinnings of Special Education  
   * 2. Cultural Reciprocity as an Approach Toward Building Parent–Professional Relationships  
   * 3. Legal and Epistemological Underpinnings of the Construction of Disability  
   * 4. The Role of Professional Expertise and Language in the Treatment of Disability  
   * 5. Professionals’ Perspectives on Parenting Styles  
   * 6. Goal Setting for Students: Parents’ versus Professionals’ Expectations  
2. **Cultural Reciprocity: Applications and Variations**  
   * 7. Cultural Reciprocity as a Transformative Journey in Research and Practice  
   * 8. Stories of Transformation: The Power of Exploring Cultural Dilemmas  
   * 9. The Preservice Classroom as an Intercultural Space for Experiencing a Process of Cultural Reciprocity  
3. **References**  
4. **Index**

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### About the Authors

**Maya Kalyanpur, Ph.D.** is an Inclusive Education Advisor with an extensive background in special education policy and practices. She has been actively involved in Cambodia since 2006.

**Beth Harry, Ph.D.** is a Professor at the University of Miami, focusing on the intersection of disability and diversity. She entered the field of special education as a parent of a child with cerebral palsy and has published extensively on related issues.

## Cultural Reciprocity: Working with Families

In this section, we present the process of cultural reciprocity as a means to facilitate a process of introspection that ultimately results in the empowerment of professionals and families alike by gaining a better understanding of each other’s cultural values. This process allows collaboration in making informed choices or decisions by examining taken-for-granted assumptions in the legal and epistemological underpinnings of definitions of disability and the way in which professional expertise and language are conceptualized.

### Cultural Underpinnings of Special Education

Various versions of the acculturation process highlight how cultural changes include alterations in a group’s customs. Children are raised within cultural frameworks that impose rewards and sanctions for efficient learning of the group's norms and expectations.

Cultural identity is multifaceted and highly individualized, shaped by affiliations with multiple cultural groups. This applies not only to ethnic identity but also to professional identities that may possess their own norms and rules.

## Becoming a Member: The Importance of Embedded Beliefs

To gain membership into the institution of special education, individuals bring with them their macro and micro-cultural frameworks. This process often relies heavily on the macrocultural belief systems upon which the field is built. The complexity lies in the embedding of these beliefs within the professional preparation and socialization that occurs in educational settings.

### Reification of Disability Categories

The belief that disability becomes reified as a feature of an individual’s constitution is widely accepted in special education. This perspective has implications for how disabilities are categorized and understood, highlighting the potential for overrepresentation of certain groups within these categories.

Questions about the parameters established for defining disabilities and their representative values further emphasize the need for a critical examination of embedded beliefs within the special education framework.

### Recommendations

This book advocates for a culturally aware approach to professional practice in special education. Such awareness is essential to fostering collaboration with families from diverse backgrounds and belief systems, reshaping the dynamics of parent-professional relationships through the lens of cultural reciprocity.