Learning disability (LD) is one of the nonnormative life events that children are diagnosed usually after starting primary school. LD is a biologically originated, neurodevelopmental disorder that demonstrates cognitive abnormalities, impairments in verbal and nonverbal information processing of brain, and/or disruption in processing abilities of individuals manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, and/or mathematical abilities (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM-5]; American

No abstract

Ecocultural theory defines culture as a broad context that includes the tasks, goals, beliefs, values, and resources of society. According to ecocultural theory, culture shapes families’ resources, routines, goals, and parenting practices. In turn, these characteristics of family ecology and parenting determine child development. Ecocultural theory is one of the modern approaches that examine the adaptation of children with disabilities and their families. This chapter aims to outline the relationship between cultural values and families’ support resources, and their influence on adaptation of the families and their children with learning disability (LD) within the framework of ecocultural theory. Previous studies supported that cultural values determine public knowledge, awareness, beliefs, and attitudes about LD. This chapter outlines both the detrimental and positive effects of the public knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes on families’ support resources. Also, families’ diversified support resources are detailed, and their differential influences on family and child development are elaborated. In the chapter, an integrated model is presented based on findings of previous empirical studies and ecocultural perspective. The model might enhance a culturally sensitive understanding of the experience of families and children. This chapter can also guide researchers in developing more comprehensive and effective intervention programs for the target group.

We examined the influences of culture, maternal malaise, household chaos, and both family-wide and child-specific aspects of parenting on children’s adjustment in a socioeconomically diverse sample of 118 English and 100 Turkish families. Each family included two children aged 4-8 years, enabling the separation of within- and between-family factors by modelling the multilevel structure of the data. Mothers reported about the parent-child relationship, contextual factors, child behaviours (internalising, externalising and prosocial). Maternal differential treatment, age, and gender were tested as sources of within-family variance, and culture, household chaos, maternal malaise, and family-wide parenting were tested as sources of between-family variance. The current study adds to the literature by showing the effects of maternal treatment were different for Turkish and English children. Conversely, similar effects across cultures were revealed for age, gender, household chaos and maternal malaise.

No abstract