Family involvement in the treatment of individuals with intellectual disability

The importance of parents in facilitating children’s cognitive and social development is unquestionable, although only over the last few decades have parents been recognized as having a considerable role in the prevention of their children’s personal and social adjustment problems. This is far more significant if the parents have children with a disability, and must be taken into account by disability professionals and services in carrying out treatments (Glidewell, 1971; Patterson, 1986; Shriver et 31., 1995; Cusinato and Framba, 1988; Cusinato, 1988; Cusinato and Tessarolo, 1993; Nota and Soresi, 1997; Soresi, 1998). In connection With this, a number of parent education and parent training ‘projects’ were set up at the end of the 1960s with the explicit aims of: 1. Increasing parental abilities in dealing with the daily problems of bringing up children with disabilities 2. Diminishing the probability of making educational ‘errors’ such as, for instance, strengthening problem behaviours and ignoring adequate ones, resorting excessively to punishments, following educational inconsistency, and so on 3. Increasing parents’ abilities to collaborate with habilitation and rehabilitation operators The need I look systematically after the family members of individuals with disabilities is described in the literature. There are clear and irrefutable ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’ indicators of the difficulties they are likely to encounter. Among the objective indicators is the significant reduction in the extra-family activities they actually carry out, the time devoted to their job and to leisure activities, and the decrease in social relationships (Farbcr, 1960; Helm and Kozloff, 1986). Among the subjective indicators there is an increased stress level, and decreased conjugal satisfaction and psychological Well-being (Gallagher et 21., 1985; Friedrich and Friedrìch, 1981). Having a child With a disability actually involves giving care and attention as well as meeting ‘unusual and additional’ needs (Beckman and Pokorni, 1988).