Group coping skills program for parents of children with dyslexia and other learning disabilities

Abstract

Fifty seven mothers of children aged 6 to 12 with dyslexia or other learning disabilities were randomly allocated to a group coping skills program (n = 32) or a wait‐list control group (n = 25). Parents completed pre‐ and post‐intervention measures of parenting competence, stress, coping skills, and child behaviour/emotional problems. Prior to the program mothers reported high stress levels associated with child and school factors. After the program significant reductions were found for stress, isolation, self‐blame, and greater emotional closeness (attachment) to the child was reported. Significant reductions in child behaviour problems (externalizing behaviours) and moodiness were also found. Child internalizing behaviours remained high with nearly half the parents reporting child emotional problems (withdrawn, somatic complaints, anxiety/depression). Future interventions with families and schools are recommended to prevent children with learning disabilities and their parents experiencing high levels of emotional distress.     

Holiday Play for Children with Disabilities in England: Access,Choice and Parents’ Views about Integration

Families with children with disabilities can feel isolated during school holidays and concerns exist that they face greater difficulties than families of children without disabilities in finding enriching activities for their child. In the context of national policies that encourage integrated play, local service commissioners in England require evidence on what sort of short breaks parents and children prefer. The parents of 99 children with disabilities and 43 children without disabilities attending various holiday play schemes in summer 2010 completed mailed questionnaires. Parents of children with disabilities reported more difficulty getting information, less choice of schemes and further distances to travel than parents of children without disabilities. Although 72% of parents of children without disabilities and 55.5% of parents of children with disabilities stated integrated schemes would be suitable for their child, open text comments provided weaker support. Variety of provision is required to meet all needs and preferences.     

Parental Influence on Physical Activity of Children with Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to identify parental influences on physical activity behaviours of children with disabilities. One hundred and forty-eight parents of children with disabilities responded to a survey about factors related to parent and child physical activity, parental support and belief in their child’s abilities regarding physical activity. The results of multiple regression revealed that parents’ perceived competence of their child’s physical ability and parental support were the key factors of promoting physical activity behaviours of children with disabilities. Findings from this study should be utilised to inform parents on the ways that they can be most helpful for improving the physical activity experiences of their children.     

The Home Play of Toddlers with Disabilities: Contexts and maternal perspectives

A multiple case‐study design was used to explore the spontaneous play of three toddlers with disabilities as it emerged in the course of everyday activity in the home. Children were observed at home playing independently and with their mothers. Data consist of videotaped naturalistic observations in the children’s homes and mothers’ perspectives of their child’s play obtained in semi‐structured interviews. There was a great deal of similarity in the playful behaviour of toddlers and their mothers. Toddlers were active players throughout all daily routines and their play reflected their developmental level. Mothers actively supported their children’s initiative and engagement in play and they spoke of play as a highly valued behaviour. Some qualitative differences were noted in child and mother–child play, which seemed to relate to the nature of the child’s disability and developmental level. Further study of the play of young children with disabilities in naturalistic settings and ways that mothers and other caregivers value and support child play is recommended.     

Parental perspectives and challenges in inclusive education in Singapore

Relatively little work has focused on inclusive education in Singapore. This study examines the experiences and perceptions of parents whose children with disabilities are attending mainstream secondary schools in Singapore. Data was drawn from interviews with 13 parents of children with mild disabilities. Our findings reveal that parental perspective on inclusive education in Singapore is not only about classroom support but also reflects a deeper concern about whether their children with disabilities will emerge from school as contributing individuals in society. While parents strive to effectively include their children with disabilities in mainstream classrooms, there were dichotomies in their (1) understanding of disabilities, (2) expectations of school support, and (3) expectations for their child with disabilities. Given that academic and social prowess is a critical prerequisite to have a shot at entering the meritocratic Singapore society, the tension parents experience is to gauge a reasonable amount of pressure to exert on their children, the school and themselves as they assert their children's educational entitlements within an imperfect but evolving state of inclusion.     

Children with Disabilities and the Education System: the experiences of fifteen fathers

Fifteen fathers of children with disabilities living in urban and rural settings were interviewed about their experiences which included their interactions with teachers and other professionals in the school system. The fathers’ accounts revealed issues similar to those reported in studies in which mothers were the participants. Where early childhood centres and schools are rejecting of children with disabilities, and where resources are difficult to access, parents experience stress. Supportive professionals and educational settings, on the other hand, are experienced as contributing to child development and family well‐being.     

Disciplinary choices of mothers of deaf children and mothers of normally hearing children

OBJECTIVE: To assess the disciplinary preferences of mothers of profoundly deaf children and normally hearing children in a test of the hypothesized link between child disabilities and punitive parenting. METHOD: Disciplinary preferences of mothers seeking a cochlear implant for their profoundly deaf child (n=57), mothers not seeking an implant for their deaf child (n=22), and mothers of normally hearing children (n=27) were assessed using an analog task in which subjects select discipline in response to slide images of children engaging in normative or frankly deviant behaviors that are potentially irritating. RESULTS: Results indicated that mothers of children with profound hearing impairments were more likely to select physical discipline in response to depicted child transgressions and more likely to escalate to physical discipline when the depicted child was described as persisting in the transgression. Additionally, escalation was more probable in response to scenes depicting children engaged in dangerous and destructive acts than in rule-violating acts. CONCLUSIONS: Findings were consistent with the hypothesized link between childhood disabilities and child maltreatment as well as the hypothesis that children with disabilities associated with communication problems could be at risk of physical abuse.     

An Integrative Review of Parenting Stress in Mothers of Children with Autism in Japan

Abstract

Parents of children with autism experience elevated stress that may be influenced by specific characteristics of the child and parent, including cultural norms and beliefs about parenting. However, there is little research on families of children with autism from cultural perspectives. The purpose of this integrative review is to identify factors influencing parenting stress in mothers of children with autism in Japan. A final sample of 15 primary research articles (2000–2015) on parenting stress in mothers of Japanese children with autism was selected using several databases. The findings suggested that these mothers experience much greater parenting stress than mothers of typically developing children and children with other disabilities. Japanese mothers also demonstrate stress related to attachment difficulties, low parenting efficacy and lack of support, reflecting Japanese parenting styles and gender ideology. Parent-directed and culturally calibrated interventions are needed to support parents of children with autism, especially cultural minority parents.     

Parents’ Participation in Their Child’s Schooling

The present study set out to survey Finnish parents’ participation in their child’s schooling and related experiences. The subjects were a nationally representative group of academically and vocationally educated fathers and mothers (N = 391) who had a child on the fifth grade. A great majority of the parents reported that they attended the parent evenings and saw them in a positive light. Most parents helped their child in her/his schoolwork, though some of them were doubtful of their own competence for it. The choice of schools, which was considered mainly by urban parents and academically educated parents, seemed to introduce a new private element into parental participation without changing the existing communal forms of participation.     

Opting Out or Opting In? Test Boycott and Parental Engagement in American Public Education

This article provides a “thick” understanding of how public school parents understand their decision to opt their children out of standardized tests. In it, Amy Shuffelton draws from qualitative research interviews with Chicago parents to explore how three mothers connected opting out of standardized testing to their broader commitments to public schools. In probing the democratic potential of their logic, Shuffelton points to avenues of hope for democratic and equitable public schooling. As scholars have argued on multiple grounds, public schools have generally preserved inequitable power relations and resource allocations rather than changed them, and this happens in part because of parental resistance to reforms they believe to be detrimental to the interests of their children. Precisely because privileged parents have and implement the power to use schooling to pass advantages to their own children, however, it is important to consider when and why some of these parents instead see reason to build a public school system that shares those advantages widely. Putting these parents' explanations for opting out of testing into conversation with ideas about the democratic public in texts by John Dewey and Bonnie Honig, Shuffelton finds potential pathways, as well as hurdles, to reviving commitment to public schooling.     

Mothers’ Experiences of Children in the Autistic Spectrum in Greece: Narratives of Development,Education and Disability Across their Blogs

Autism occupies a prominent place in scientific research both as a medical and as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Autism is studied as a disorder and a diagnostic label, as an experience of people with autism, their parents and their supporters, and finally as a disability related to stigma and rejection. The purpose of this article is to describe the posted experiences on personal blogs of five mothers who have school-aged children in the autistic spectrum in Greece. The qualitative method of content analysis is used for analysing the personal narratives across their blogs because this method focuses on describing and understanding the presented experiences and acknowledges the central role of the researcher in describing and signifying the issues discussed. The results of the content analysis show that the mothers seem to view autism through a developmental perspective and as they lead efforts for their child’s developmental timeline they are worried about their child’s developmental course and tend to experience high levels of anxiety, depression and burnout. The mothers act as practical scientists and co-therapists, taking an active role in educating and raising their children, finding a school and selecting appropriate interventions. The mothers struggle to obtain quality in education and services, while faced with the absence of technical infrastructure and understaffing in schools, lack of funding, covert or overt practices of acceptance and rejection of people with disabilities in the educational system, the attitudes and ignorance of some educators, and the high cost of private services. These mothers, at first, view autism as a tragedy and within their social environment they face covert or overt rejection since their children are stigmatised as “abnormal”. Later on, the mothers accept their child’s disability as a prerequisite for gaining a new life experience. It seems that the mothers have a mixed perception of disability, which sometimes tends to be closer to the medical model, sometimes to the hybrid model, while other times to the social model of disability.     

Attitudes and experiences of parents regarding inclusive and special school education for children with learning and intellectual disabilities

In a survey, 840 parents of children with cognitive deficits who were educated either in special schools or in inclusive classes were asked to assess their children's school experiences. The results showed an overall high degree of satisfaction with the schooling, but there were marked differences among the parents' assessments depending on the degree of learning disabilities and on the type of school. Satisfaction with their children's social experiences and satisfaction with the special education curriculum depend on these two factors. All in all, many parents of children in inclusive classes were satisfied with their children's schooling than those of children in special schools. The analysis of the causes for discontent showed that dissatisfied parents had chosen the type of school under less favourable conditions and a larger part of them are still not convinced of this necessity of additional help. This applied to parents of pupils in inclusive classes as well as to those of pupils in special schools. Furthermore, parents of children with German as a second language showed a higher degree of discontent than others.     

An overview of parent training and counselling with the parents of children with mental disabilities and autism in Turkey

Parents are significant contributors to the development of their children. They are the primary caretakers, managers, behavior models, disciplinarians, and agents of socialization and change for their children. It is accepted that parents can be trained as effective teachers of their children with disabilities. In Turkey, there are very limited opportunities, services, schools, parent education and support services for children with disabilities and their parents. Therefore, we have been carrying out studies to contribute to the understanding of the parents, specifically, on how a child with a disability affects their life and how they can be trained to become co-teachers and co-therapists. These studies are reviewed here.     

Parents and youth with learning disabilities: perceptions of relationships and communication

The study examined perceptions of family relationships and communication in 52 families who have an adolescent child diagnosed with learning disabilities (LD) with a matched group of 52 families who have a child without LD. Parents and youth completed a self-reported Family Relations and Communication Scales assessment. Findings revealed parents perceived their child as either overinvolved or underinvolved with their parents and not sharing the same values and norms as their parents. Findings indicated that parents of youth with and without LD share similar perceptions of both the openness and problematic aspects of family communication. Youth with and without LD reported higher levels of problematic maternal involvement than perceived by the mothers; youth without LD rated their mothers' affective expression higher than reported by their mothers; both groups of youth perceived their mothers' and their fathers' communication as less open and more problematic than reported by their parents.     

Agreement on Childhood Disability between Parents and Teachers in Vietnam

The purpose of the present study was to examine agreement on childhood disability among the teachers and parents of children with cognitive delays in Vietnam. The participants were 57 teachers in kindergarten programmes (for children 2 to 6 years of age), and 106 mothers and 93 fathers of the children attending these kindergarten programmes. The data were collected using the ABILITIES Index and a demographic information form. The results indicated that teachers rated the children’s level of functioning more severely, especially in the areas of intellectual disabilities and behaviour problems, than mothers and fathers. Logistic regression that examined the factors that predicted the agreement and disagreement among parents and teachers revealed that teachers and parents were more likely to agree when the child’s disability was genetically related or physical. Screening, diagnosis and treatment issues can become more challenging for children with intellectual disabilities who do not have such physical and genetic conditions, especially when the agreement between parents and professionals on the conditions of the children is low.     

Attitudes of Greek parents of primary school children without special educational needs to inclusion

Successful inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) in school settings depends largely on the attitudes of parents of peers without SEN. The purpose of the present study was to explore the attitudes of Greek parents of primary school children without SEN towards inclusion. The participants were 338 parents (182 fathers, 156 mothers), aged 27 to 58 years (mean age = 39 years and 5 months). They were asked to complete the My thinking about inclusion scale and a further short questionnaire. The findings revealed that Greek parents of primary school children not identified as having SEN had an overall positive attitude towards inclusion. Gender differences were also established—fathers held more positive attitudes towards inclusion than mothers, even when controlling for age, educational level and the presence of a child with SEN in their child’s classroom. However, mothers were overall more willing than fathers to engage themselves and their child in interaction with a child with SEN.