Family Involvement in Intervention with Children Having Severe Handicaps

Abstract

Article Descriptors parents; family; severely handicapped; young children; parent training; home intervention; behavior intervention Research is examined which pertains to the use of family members in interventions with children having severe handicaps. First, interventions addressing in appropriate behavior are reviewed and then skill ac quisition research is discussed. In general, evidence to date suggests that family members can be effective interventionists. Some critical issues are discussed in cluding the child focus of the literature, generality, measurement, and cost-effectiveness. Implications for further research are delineated.

Intervening with families of young children with severe handicaps: Contributions of a family systems approach.

“…Researchers have addressed the issue of family responsiveness to intervention efforts and have demonstrated that variables such as socioeconomic level (McMahon, Forehand, Griest, & Wells, 1981;Wahler & Afton, 1980;Webster-Stratton, 1985); marital conflict (Bernal, Klinnert, & Schultz, 1980); single parenthood (Strain, Young, & Horowitz, 1981); parental depression McMahon et al, 1981); and insularity (Wahler, 1980;Wahler & Dumas, 1984) have all been related to negative parent training outcomes. Snell and Beckman-Brindley (1984) noted that the effects of these variables may be exacerbated in families with children who are severely handicapped. As a result, it may be more difficult for parents of these children to continue using the strategies taught during parent training once formal sessions have been completed (Harris, Wolchik, & Weitz, 1981;Holmes, Hemsley, Rickett, & Likierman, 1982).…”

“…Snell and Beckman-Brindley (1984) noted that the effects of these variables may be exacerbated in families with children who are severely handicapped. As a result, it may be more difficult for parents of these children to continue using the strategies taught during parent training once formal sessions have been completed (Harris, Wolchik, & Weitz, 1981; Holmes, Hemsley, Rickett, & Likierman, 1982).…”

“…Observations of behavioral psychologists (Harris, 1983; Patterson & Fleishman, 1979; Powers & Bruey, 1988) and special educators (Turnbull et al, 1986; Winton, 1986) about the needs of families who have severely handicapped members converge on several important points: (a) families have multiple needs extending well beyond the education of their children; (b) these needs vary according to the age of the children and the position of the family within the life cycle; (c) assessment of these needs and measurement of outcomes may require different models than those in common use; and (d) too many intervention efforts are characterized by a unidimensional approach to helping the child, approaches that fail to understand the child with a severe handicap within his or her relevant social, cultural, familial, and historical contexts. The equivocal results of apparently sound intervention plans with families of children with severe handicaps (Snell & Beckman-Brindley, 1984) argue for closer scrutiny of systemic factors promoting or impeding change. The challenge becomes one of identifying a conceptual framework for understanding the process of change in the family of the person with a severe handicap, and of applying that understanding to the needs of families at a given point in time and across the lifecycle.…”