website:http://www.education.com/reference/article/impact-child-disabilities-family/
The linked article above discussed the reactions of parents to the diagnosis of a disability and their adjustment process. According to the textbook, Kubler-Ross indicated that most stage theory models are created around the premise that family has similar grief emotion as those facing the death of a loved one.
In the article, writer briefly discusses professional’s opinion on adjustment process. Blacher (1984) thinks that three stages of adjustment are taking place. His opinion is similar to Gargiulo’s model presented in the textbook. In the first stage, parents experience shock, denial, and disbelief. The second stage is characterized by alternating feelings of anger, guilt, depression, shame, lowered self-esteem, rejection of the child, and overprotectiveness. This stage is especially complicated and people show different degrees of struggle in this stage. In the third stage, parents finally arrive in the state of acceptance.
This article also introduced another stage of adjustment. In this stage, Poyadue (1993) thinks that parents started to realize the positive gifts children with disabilities brought to the family. Taking care of the kids bring the family members closer and more connected. Many parents indicated that those children inspired them to be more responsible and they are a happier family with unexpected surprises. I am deeply touched by this opinion. Parents of children with disabilities must have put in unimaginable amount of efforts in daily life. Therefore, seeing one tiny bit of improvement must be extremely exciting and inspiring. I have watched a movie of a mum teaching her children, who has speaking disorder, to speak. She has to repeat a word hundreds of times to get the kid to follow and the teaching process is as hard as you can imagine. When the kid finally knows how to say mum, her tears drop like rain. Whenever the kids make a progress, the sense of satisfaction can be enormous.
Through reading the textbook, I realize that knowing those reactions and pattern of parents is important since understanding makes a better helper. This article facilitates my understanding of the textbook and also got me to think the side effect of relying on any stages-of-adjustment theory. Assuming that all parents must pass through a similar sequence of stages, people will misunderstand each parent’s own pattern. Relying on the theory causes problems like stereotyping, ignoring individuality and overstating psychological problems.
The linked article above discussed the reactions of parents to the diagnosis of a disability and their adjustment process. According to the textbook, Kubler-Ross indicated that most stage theory models are created around the premise that family has similar grief emotion as those facing the death of a loved one.
In the article, writer briefly discusses professional’s opinion on adjustment process. Blacher (1984) thinks that three stages of adjustment are taking place. His opinion is similar to Gargiulo’s model presented in the textbook. In the first stage, parents experience shock, denial, and disbelief. The second stage is characterized by alternating feelings of anger, guilt, depression, shame, lowered self-esteem, rejection of the child, and overprotectiveness. This stage is especially complicated and people show different degrees of struggle in this stage. In the third stage, parents finally arrive in the state of acceptance.
This article also introduced another stage of adjustment. In this stage, Poyadue (1993) thinks that parents started to realize the positive gifts children with disabilities brought to the family. Taking care of the kids bring the family members closer and more connected. Many parents indicated that those children inspired them to be more responsible and they are a happier family with unexpected surprises. I am deeply touched by this opinion. Parents of children with disabilities must have put in unimaginable amount of efforts in daily life. Therefore, seeing one tiny bit of improvement must be extremely exciting and inspiring. I have watched a movie of a mum teaching her children, who has speaking disorder, to speak. She has to repeat a word hundreds of times to get the kid to follow and the teaching process is as hard as you can imagine. When the kid finally knows how to say mum, her tears drop like rain. Whenever the kids make a progress, the sense of satisfaction can be enormous.
Through reading the textbook, I realize that knowing those reactions and pattern of parents is important since understanding makes a better helper. This article facilitates my understanding of the textbook and also got me to think the side effect of relying on any stages-of-adjustment theory. Assuming that all parents must pass through a similar sequence of stages, people will misunderstand each parent’s own pattern. Relying on the theory causes problems like stereotyping, ignoring individuality and overstating psychological problems.