Parents of children with developmental disabilities have been reported to experience higher levels of stress than parents of typically developing children. This stress has been found to lead to adverse effects for both parents and children. Respite has been found to be a buffer of stress in the short term. The objective of this study was to: determine the types of respite Saskatchewan parents are using; and examine the correlational relationship between formal and informal respite use and child behaviour concerns, child adaptive skills, and parental stress. Open-ended questions related to additional influences on respite use were also analyzed. The current study examined respite use in 26 parents in Saskatchewan who have children between the ages of 6 and 18 with a diagnosed developmental disability. The Respite Information Questionnaire (adapted from Preece & Jordon, 2007) was used to explore the types and hours of respite use, child behaviour concerns, and child adaptive needs. Parental stress levels were measured with the Parental Stress Scale (Berry & Jones, 1995). Descriptive statistics, correlations and Mann-Whitney U statistical tests were used to analyze data gathered from the questionnaire and Parental Stress Scale. Results from this research showed that Saskatchewan parents used a range of formal (e.g., care homes, trained individual respite providers) and informal respite (e.g., siblings, grandparents) both in type and hours of use. No relationship was found between formal and informal respite use and child adaptive skills or parental stress. A preliminary relationship between child behavioural concerns and stress was found, indicating that as child behavioural concerns increase so does formal respite use. However, a basic thematic analysis of open-ended questions showed that parents felt respite services were limited as a result of their child`s behavioral concerns. This suggests child behavioural concerns should be considered in respite policy and program development.

With an estimated 1.8 million children born in the US with a developmental disability in the past decade and a 43% increase in the Latino population in the same time period, there are more Latino parents who have children born with a developmental disability than ever before. Due to factors such as language barriers and legal status, Latino parents of children with developmental disabilities tend to experience higher needs. This study explored the challenges and needs Latino parents faced when caring for a child with special needs. The design of the study was qualitative. Participants were a convenience sample of nine Latino women who had a child or children with a developmental disability. Results of the study suggested that there was a large need for more parental education regarding developmental disabilities, support groups, and a larger variety of services and programs available to both parents and children. Increased length and frequency of services were also identified as needs. The most common barriers to the accessibility of programs and services for Latino parents were language barriers and legal status. Other findings discussed focus on the programs and services that parents have found beneficial as well as the role social workers play in the accessibility and attainability of programs, services and resources.

The funtioning of families of children with developmental disabilities has been of interest to researchers for some time. To date, little research has focused on experiences of New Zealand families. The aim of this research is to investigate relationships between various aspects of the family environment and family functioning, and to explore siblings' level of self-concept and satisfaction with the sibling relationship. It is expected that families who receive more support from external levels of the environment will be able to function more effectively in their immediate environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Hornby, 1994). Twenty-one parents and nineteen siblings of children with developmental disabilities volunteered to take part in this study. Parent participants completed questionnaires about family demographics, the level of support received from external sources, their perceptions of the family environment, and level of stress related to child characteristics; pessimism and family problems. Sibling participants completed questionnaires about their satisfaction with the relationship with their brother or sister, their self-concept, and their own perceptionso of the family environment. The results indicate that there are a number of relationships between various aspects of the environment and family functioning. Siblings who are more satisfied with their relationship have higher self-concept scores, however the self-concept scores were lower than expected. Families who receive higher levels of support have more positive perceptions of the family enviornment, and families who have more support and more positive views of the environment have few concerns on the resources and stress scale. The results indicated that families consider that they are receiving adequate support from professional services, however support from family and friends appears to be lacking. This study has provided insight into the functioning of New Zealand families who have children with developmental disabilities, and has suggested a number of avenues for future research.

This study was done to validate a widely used parent questionnaire that assesses sleep problems in children ages 4‑10. To date, no Spanish‑language sleep questionnaire is available for the Spanish‑speaking population. Research has found that sleep problems affect both typically developing children and children with developmental disabilities, potentially detracting from their quality of life. Spanish is the second most frequently spoken language in the United States, so it is of high importance to make available a Spanish‑language sleep questionnaire. The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) was chosen to be translated. The norming data for validation of the CSHQ‑S included 151 children from the community sample and 30 children from the clinical sample. A confirmatory factor analysis failed to replicate the purported internal structure of the English‑language CSHQ. Subsequent exploratory factor analysis yielded a unique 5‑factor solution which generally met criteria of reliability and validity. Our results show that children with disabilities experience more sleep problems than typically developing children. The CSHQ‑S can be considered to be a good Spanish‑language sleep measure in typically developing children and children with disabilities.

Abstract Children with developmental disabilities are a particularly vulnerable population with complex, unique needs. In order to ensure that these clients are achieving the best quality of life possible, they typically require an array of community support services where social workers will often intersect with them in a variety of settings and roles. Therefore, there is a substantial need to ensure that student’s entering the workforce as newly qualified workers have some familiarity and exposure to what presenting issues these children are facing as well as the different techniques and tools available to engage with and assess them. This study examined California State University School of Social Work student’s preparedness, willingness, and eagerness to work with children who have developmental disabilities. It utilized a quantitative approach with a questionnaire that was distributed via the Qualtrics system to student’s emails. A total of 80 social work students participated in the study and answered questions regarding their demographics, familial and curriculum exposure to developmental disabilities, their work experience, and their perceived levels of preparedness, willingness, and eagerness to work with children who have developmental disabilities. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the student data collected. The social work curriculum provided to students in the program is designed with the intent to prepare them for working with a diverse population that have a variety of needs, which will include individuals who have developmental disabilities. In order to effectively do this, it is recommended that courses offer more comprehensive lesson plans exploring not just a definition-based approach to developmental disabilities, but also incorporate elements of effective engagement, advocacy, and assessment methods.

The funtioning of families of children with developmental disabilities has been of interest to researchers for some time. To date, little research has focused on experiences of New Zealand families. The aim of this research is to investigate relationships between various aspects of the family environment and family functioning, and to explore siblings' level of self-concept and satisfaction with the sibling relationship. It is expected that families who receive more support from external levels of the environment will be able to function more effectively in their immediate environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1979; Hornby, 1994). Twenty-one parents and nineteen siblings of children with developmental disabilities volunteered to take part in this study. Parent participants completed questionnaires about family demographics, the level of support received from external sources, their perceptions of the family environment, and level of stress related to child characteristics; pessimism and family problems. Sibling participants completed questionnaires about their satisfaction with the relationship with their brother or sister, their self-concept, and their own perceptionso of the family environment. The results indicate that there are a number of relationships between various aspects of the environment and family functioning. Siblings who are more satisfied with their relationship have higher self-concept scores, however the self-concept scores were lower than expected. Families who receive higher levels of support have more positive perceptions of the family enviornment, and families who have more support and more positive views of the environment have few concerns on the resources and stress scale. The results indicated that families consider that they are receiving adequate support from professional services, however support from family and friends appears to be lacking. This study has provided insight into the functioning of New Zealand families who have children with developmental disabilities, and has suggested a number of avenues for future research.

This research study examined the relationship between family cohesion and depression in mothers and fathers of children with disabilities. One hundred and six two-parent families who had a child with a disability provided information on their feelings of cohesion through Bloom's cohesion subscale and depression through the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D). Analyses indicated that mothers and fathers of this sample are not significantly more depressed than the general population. However, there was a correlation between mothers' and fathers' depression, indicating that when mothers' depression increased, fathers' depression increased. Negative correlations were found between mothers' and fathers' self-reported levels of cohesion and depression indicating that when there were high levels of depression there were low levels of cohesion. Limitations, implications, and further research ideas are presented.

No description available.

Challenging behaviors such as hitting, kicking, screaming, destruction of property and other socially-inappropriate behaviors are common among children with significant disabilities. Behavior Parent Training (BPT), which is based on basic principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), has been shown to be effective in reducing these problem behaviors. Traditional approaches to BPT have typically emphasized consequence-based interventions, however, advances in the field of ABA (e.g., FBA, antecedent-based interventions) and PBS have led to more strategies that are more effective in complex community environments. Evidence of such practices is emerging but has not been adequately documented. The current study evaluated the use of a standardized PBS protocol in decreasing problem behaviors of four children with developmental disabilities. The success of the parent education protocol was evaluated using a multiple baseline across participants design. Results of this study showed that after participating in parent education using a standardized protocol, participants' children displayed decreases in problematic behavior as well as increases in adaptive behavior, for all but one of the participants.

Parents of children with disabilities need accurate information to help them provide tailored services and supports to their families. This is especially true for immigrant Latino families who tend to experience poor overall health and who tend to avoid formal services and supports.Based on input gathered from Latino Parents of children with disabilities, a three module curriculum, "Empowering Families," was developed. Following a cultural appropriateness review of the curriculum and associated measurement instruments, revisions were made to the content and presentation procedure. This was followed by a field test of the curriculum with two groups of Latino parent/caregivers of children with developmental disabilities. Results from the training sessions with both groups indicate that the training resulted in moderate knowledge gains and that self-reported healthy lifestyle behaviors experience minimal improvement. Overall health status was essentially unchanged. Participants rated the content very highly in terms of cultural appropriateness and usefulness.