An investigation of how child's disability affects the family?
How does a child's disability affect the family?
Coping Strategies
- How do families meet the needs of their child with a disability?
- How do families manage the stress and responsibilities of having a child with a disability?
- What resources outside of the home do parents utilize?
Family structure
- How many families remain intact?
- How often do parents of a child with a disability separate or get a divorce?
- At what point in time of the child's life does this typically occur?
- How are other family members affected by the stress of having a sibling, grandchild, cousin, niece/ nephew with a disability?
Molly,
ReplyDeleteYou've posed some good questions here. It seems like you want to focus on family difficulties that arise as a result of or are complicated by disabilities. Maybe you should look into some anecdotal evidence of families that crumbled under the pressure of accommodating their child and families that persevered through such difficulties. I can only imagine how tough it must be to undergo a divorce when there is a disabled child involved. Also consider looking into online sources (e.g. google "divorce in families with disabilities" or something) and posting some links here so the class can read what you've found.
Looking forward to reading more.
Gabe
You're first question about how families remain intact and how do they manage stress and responsibilities of having a child with a disability intrigued me. That is a very good question. I began to imagine what it would be like to have a child with a disability. Although parents never want to think of their children as a burden, it must be hard to manage a stress-free environment when nurturing children who especially have severe disorders. I found an article that talks about a study that was done that evaluated parents who have children living with disabilities that included A.D.D., bipolar disorder and Down syndrome. Parents of children with disabilities had a greater number of stressors and a higher number of days during which they had at least one stressor. To read more you can go to http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/02/19/parental-stress-with-special-needs-children/4219.html.
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