Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-24T05:21:57.816Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parents of Intellectually Handicapped Children — How they areTold

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2024

Toni E. Meek
Toni E. Meek*
Affiliation:
Broadmeadows Family Services
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Parents invariably experience great emotional distress when they are informedthat their child is intellectually handicapped. From working with parents ofintellectually handicapped children, it appears that they experience moreanxiety with their child than do parents of normal children, and often havespecial needs. These needs may vary from requiring assistance to adjust to theirchild’s condition, to advice and guidance about how to manage theirchild. It is apparent from talking with parents about their experiences withtheir intellectually handicapped child, that often their needs have not or haveonly superficially been met by professionals. Some cases have been adequatelydealt with, however, in general there appear to be discrepancies in theavailability of assistance for parents of intellectually handicapped children.There is a need to bring into focus the situation as it now exists for parentswhen they are told of their child’s handicap. The time when parents aretold of their child’s handicap is a crucial one for parents, and perhapsnot enough is being done to help parents at this time.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , Winter 1981 , pp. 6 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Evans, E. 1976. The Grief Reaction of Parents of the Retarded and the Counsellor’s Role. Australian Social Work Vol. 29 No. 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kanner, L. 1953. Parents’ Feelings About Retarded Children. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 57, 375–389.Google ScholarPubMed
Kanner, L. 1956. Parent Counselling. In Rothstein, J. (Ed.). 1971. Mental Retardation, Readings & Resources. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.Google Scholar
Mackeith, R. 1973. The feelings and behaviour of Parents of Handicapped Children. In Boswell, and Wingrove, (Eds.). The Handicapped Person in the Community. Tavistock Publications.Google Scholar
Helen, Molony. 1971. Parental Reactions to Mental Retardation. The Medical Journal of Australia. 1, 914 (April 24).Google Scholar
Olshansky, S. 1962. Chronic Sorrow: A Response to Having a Mentally Defective Child. In Noland, R. (Ed.). 1970. Counselling Parents of the Mentally Retarded, A Sourcebook. Illinois:Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Patterson, Letha. 1956. Some Pointers for Professionals. In Rothstein, J. (Ed.). 1971. Mental Retardation, Readings and Resources. (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.Google Scholar
Pueschel, S. and Murphy, Ann. 1976, Assessment of Counselling Practices at the Birth of a Child with Down’s Syndrome. American Journal of Mental Deficiency. 81, No. 4, 325–330.Google Scholar
Robertson, Roberta. 1951. Don’t Speak To Us Of Living Death. In Noland, R. (Ed.). 1970. Counselling Parents of the Mentally Retarded. A Sourcebook.Google Scholar
Soddy, K. 1972. The Clinical Picture. In Adams, M. and Lovejoy, H. (Eds.). The Mentally Subnormal: Social Work Approaches. 2nd ed. William Heinemann.Google Scholar