Just Good Different Things Specific Accommodations Families Make to Positively Adapt to Their Children With Developmental Disabilities

• Published in: Topics in early childhood special education Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 155 - 170
• Main Authors: Maul, Christine A., Singer, George H. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2009; SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adjustment (to Environment); Allied Health Personnel; Autism Spectrum Disorders; Child Rearing; Children with disabilities; Decision Making; Developmental Disabilities; Educational Change; Families & family life; Family Environment; Family Relationship; Family Work Relationship; Grandparents; Grounded Theory; Interviews; Marital Status; Meta Analysis; Normalization (Disabilities); Parent Attitudes; Parenting Skills; Parents; Physical Health; Researchers; Resilience (Psychology); Resistance (Psychology); Sibling Relationship; Siblings; Social Attitudes; Social Bias; Special Education; Teamwork; Time; Young Children; developmental disabilities; ecocultural niche theory; family accommodations; resiliency theory
• ISSN: 0271-1214; 1538-4845
• DOI: 10.1177/0271121408328516

Fifteen parents and two grandparents of children with developmental disabilities (DD) were interviewed to discover common themes regarding specific ways in which they devised positive adaptations to their everyday routines to accommodate the needs of their children with DD, how they decided upon the accommodations, and how much help they felt they received from professionals in making the accommodations. Interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed. Using grounded theory methods, the authors analyzed the transcriptions to determine common themes, which were found to be (a) lost opportunities replaced by new opportunities, (b) the family as a team, (c) time adaptations, (d) the idiosyncratic nature of family accommodations, and (e) an insistence on normalcy, accompanied by a resistance to stigma. Participants most commonly described their decision-making process as “trial and error,” and the majority felt professionals had given them good help in making accommodations.