Parental Stress and its Relation to Parental Perceptions of Communication Following Language Intervention

Current research indicates that parents of children with developmental disabilities experience more parental stress than parents of typically developing children, yet most are able to successfully cope with the additional care giving demands. There has been little research however, on the role of the communication ability of children with developmental disabilities on parental stress. This study examined the effects of a parent-implemented language intervention on parental stress and its relation to parental perceptions of communication development in young toddlers (N = 59) and their parents. Results indicate that parent stress did not decrease significantly following language intervention. Parents’ perceptions about the severity of their child’s communication deficits partially mediated the relationship between expressive language at baseline and parent stress at post-intervention. In addition, exploratory results begin to support the idea that parents who are initially high in parent stress are able to decrease their overall parent stress following language intervention