Attitudes of parents towards their developmentally handicapped children

Includes bibliographical references (pages 72-74)Parents who feel adequate about their roles as teacher to their handicapped children are more positive and successful as parent trainers, than those parents who do not feel adequate. Parents with positive attitudes concerning their abilities as child rearers have children who possess a higher level of self-help skills, along with better self-images and are more self reliant.\ud The purpose of the Project was to assess the changes in one select group of parents, who have developmentally handicapped children, and their abilities to be more effective parents towards these children, following an educational and health training program.\ud The study population consisted of two groups of parents, who were part of a model program, for parents of developmentally handicapped children.\ud An individualized program was designed for each family unit with parent participation and approval. Each parent was instrumental in designing their own units of study in a program aimed at increasing their effectiveness as parent teachers.\ud Preceding the teaching of this individualized unit of study, a Pre-Test was administered to each individual parent involved in this program. The unit content was developed by the parent and home trainer through the guidelines of the Steps To Independence Through Education program. At the conclusion of the units of study on parent effectiveness training, the Post-Test was administered.\ud The study results showed a positive increase in the parental attitudes towards their developmentally disabled children. The data revealed a significance in the scores of the Pre-Test and those of the Post-Test as meaningful in attitude changes.\ud It was concluded that exposure to a parent effectiveness training program increased positive attitudes for parents with developmentally handicapped children.\ud The two salient limitations of the Project were the lack of a control group and the small sample of respondents