'Somali parents feel like they're on the outer': Somali mothers' experiences of parent-teacher relationships for their autistic children.
Somali mothers see teacher low expectations, poor communication, and racism as key barriers to their autistic children’s school success.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Jodie and her team sat down with 15 Somali mothers in Australia. All had autistic children in public schools.
They used long, open interviews. Moms told stories about parent-teacher meetings, IEP talks, and daily notes home.
The goal was simple: let Somali mothers describe, in their own words, what helps or blocks teamwork with schools.
What they found
Three big barriers came up every time. First, teachers seemed to expect little from their kids. Second, schools talked in jargon and gave short notice. Third, mothers felt racism when they asked for more services.
One mom said, "They smile, but I can tell they think I’m just another pushy Black parent." Most felt shut out and stopped speaking up.
How this fits with other research
Lim et al. (2016) surveyed Greek teachers and parents. Both sides agreed teamwork is vital. Jodie’s moms want the same thing, so the clash is not about values—it’s about how schools act.
Manor-Binyamini et al. (2021) showed Bedouin mothers pull back when stigma is high. Somali moms tell the same story, but they name racism as the stigma engine.
Garwood et al. (2021) heard Mongolian parents cry out for basic services. Somali-Australians have services, yet still hit a wall. Together the papers map a ladder: no services hurts, but bias can block even good services.
Van Herwegen et al. (2018) found parents of autistic kids are the least happy with school help. Jodie gives the cultural lens: low expectations plus poor talk equals exit from the process.
Why it matters
If you write IEPs or run parent nights, treat Somali moms as experts on their child. Drop the acronyms, share data early, and set high goals. One small fix: open every meeting by asking the mother what success looks like for her kid this year.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Good relationships between parents and schools can improve autistic children's school success. There are many reasons why families from different cultural backgrounds find it harder to develop good relationships with schools, such as language barriers, discrimination and unfamiliarity with education systems. We know little about what 'good relationships' look like for these families. Here, we worked with a team of autistic and non-autistic researchers as well as an Advisory Group of Somali parents to conduct interviews with 15 Somali mothers of kindergarten and school-age autistic children. We asked mothers about their experiences of their child's education, communication with teachers and what a good relationship with schools would look like. We also asked how they felt the Somali community understood autism. We looked for common things that mothers said. We found that mothers were very proud of their children. They had high expectations, particularly about what children could do by themselves. Mothers found it frustrating that teachers had low expectations, that schools were not good at communicating with them and that autism-specific skills and experience were uncommon in schools. They also reported racist attitudes towards their children. Mothers experienced stigma and lacked resources, but support was gained from their daughters and their religion. Mothers themselves were proactively increasing community awareness and knowledge about autism in the hope that they and their autistic children would be valued and better supported. Our work has implications for how teachers and schools can work together with Somali parents to forge better futures for autistic children.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2023 · doi:10.1177/13623613221146077