Home-based parental involvement among immigrant families of children with disabilities: practices, barriers, and facilitators

Immigrant parents of students with disabilities (IPSwDs) remain underrepresented in research on parental involvement, despite playing a vital educational role in their children's lives. Using semi-structured interviews and participant-created videos, this study drew on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) to better understand parental involvement among IPSwDs in supporting their children's education and learning. The findings revealed that educational involvement was closely tied to caregiving and centered on supporting skills development at home. Parents perceived schools as primarily recognizing parental involvement as academic support, implicitly positioning skill development as a family responsibility. As a result, parents maintained a separate infrastructure at home that relied more on their private resources than on school support. The study highlights the need for stronger school-family partnerships.