Active listening

The teacher listens to the family members, respects their opinions, provides them with assistance. This helps them understand how these family members perceive themselves, their children and family situation.

Asking questions

The teacher asks questions in order to obtain further information and clarify any issues. Different kinds of information are gained by using a balance of open and closed questions. Open questions lead to a general discussion. For example: “What motivates your child?” or: “What makes your child happy?”. For closed questions, short answers are sufficient. For example: “Do you have any more children?” or: “Can your child ride a bike?” The teacher should carefully observe the way the family reacts and answers. If they learn to adjust their questions accordingly, this expresses respect for the family.

Summary

During and at the end of their conversation the teacher should summarize and paraphrase the parents’ key statements, so as to verify that the teacher clearly understood the information provided.

Reformulating

The teacher prompts the parent to look at the situation from a new angle and explore various possible solutions to the problem. For instance when parents describe the problematic behavior of their child, the teacher can help them realize their child is not problematic, but instead not yet capable of a certain behavior (e.g. coping with failure).