|
An understanding of the nature of intellectual disability
is essential for health care professionals, who are required to support
equal access to their services for all disabled people.
|
|
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT SUPPORTING PARENTS
- Intervention in the family must respect and support the emotional
bond between parents and child.
- Support should be provided to parents and children as people
first.
- Support is most effective when it is consistent, non-intrusive
and non-threatening.
- Parents should be enabled to participate in the making of decisions
with a bearing on their family life.
- Support is more effective when aimed at the survival and maintenance
needs of families, followed by childcare tasks, than at modifying
styles of interaction within the family.
- Service providers must be responsive to any informal supports
already in place.
- Parents should be made to feel in control of events.
- The attitude of those who deliver the support is crucial in
determining its effectiveness.
|
|
This site was developed as a collaboration between
the Down's Syndrome Association and the Division of Mental Health at St George's, University of London, with financial support from GUS Charitable trust and the
Department of Health in England.
|
