Background: Many parents with learning disabilities find themselves locked in a struggle with child protection authorities to retain custody of their children. This struggle is one against deeply entrenched prejudices as well as social arrangements that often deprive parents of needed resources. This in-depth case study explores the contours of…

Background: Families of parents with intellectual disabilities still face discrimination, stigma and inadequate support, placing them in vulnerable positions. Social assistive robotics offers promising support. This study investigates the possible impact of social assistive robotics on family quality of life (FQoL). Method: An inclusive, iterative…

Purpose: Reading fluency establishes the basis for the strong literacy skills needed for academic success. We aim to trace how reading fluency develops from childhood to adulthood and identify factors that influence this development. Method: In this study, 200 families were followed. All participating children (N = 200, 47% female) were ethnic…

Background: More people with a learning disability are becoming parents. Little is known about the lived experiences of the children who have a parent with a learning disability. Methods: This study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to understand the lived experiences of people who have a parent with a learning disability. Five…

Background: Children of parents with intellectual disability are assumed to be at risk of poor outcomes but a comprehensive review of the literature has not previously been undertaken. Method: A database and reference search from March 2010 to March 2011 resulted in 26 studies for review. Results: Two groups of studies were identified. The first…

Christine lives with her three children, Elizabeth, George and Louise. Following the unexpected death of her husband in December 2001, she has been offered practical support into the home, so that she can continue to look after her children. It has been a long struggle, getting the right support package into the home, and here, we tell Christine's…

Background: This longitudinal study of 20 average and bright adults with parents with cognitive difficulties follows a study 20 years earlier of their childhood adaptation to their parents. Method: Semistructured interviews about life situation and changes and perception of family-of-origin. Results: The participants' socioeconomic status changed…

Background: The purpose of this paper was to report on the results of an exploratory trial of an intensive home-based parenting programme for parents with an intellectual disability. The aim of the programme was to combine the delivery of evidence-based parent education technology for parents with an intellectual disability with two strategies…

This paper investigates how the learning environments and family dynamics differ if households have a child with a disability or a parent with a disability. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, results indicate that children with disabilities experience similar learning environments as other children, but have somewhat…

In this article, the author, who has an internet self-help radio program called "Maximizing Life with Scott Chesney" on VoiceAmerica, describes the joys and healing his children brings him daily since his diagnosis with Foix-Alajouanine Syndrome. He realized that, after a tour of 15 countries researching alternative medicine and speaking and…

This literature review begins with a description of the deaf community, their language and culture; then describes communication patterns and parenting issues in deaf-parented families; examines the role of the hearing child in a deaf family and how that affects their functioning in the hearing world; and finally discusses considerations and…

A mother and father (both deaf themselves) of one deaf and one hard of hearing child share their parenting experiences, with emphasis on effective strategies for family sharing and bonding. The father begins by sharing his experiences growing up as a deaf child of deaf parents. The mother then recounts her childhood experiences as a deaf child of…

This study compared interactions in 18 families headed by either deaf or hearing parents with an eldest hearing child (aged 7 to 11). Transcripts of parent/child dyadic interactions during a vacation planning activity were analyzed. There were no significant differences between children in the two groups, though deaf parents demonstrated less…

Background: The Child and Special Parenting Service provides flexible assessment, long-term domiciliary support and home-based teaching to intellectually disabled parents. It provides key coordination between the Learning Disability Service and the Children's Service with focussed parenting assessments, where issues of child care and protection…

This study compared 38 low-income mothers with intellectual limitations and 32 low-income mothers without intellectual limitations and found developmental delay was identified by the age of 2 years in 42% of children born to mothers with intellectual limitations and 12% of children born to the other mothers. (Author/CR)