Chapter 6: Empowering Parents of Young Atypical Learners

For many families, welcoming a new baby into the household can all together be a jubilant and challenging time. While all parents must adjust and adapt to the physical and emotional demands of parenting a young child, it is more likely that parents of young, atypical students may also experience denial, grief, stress, or anger (Koch, 2016). Having a child with a disability can be very stressful for parents. These parents go through stages when they initially find out their child is a student with a disability. According to Faerstein (1981), parents primarily experience reactions such as denial, overprotection, guilt, and blame, and possibly followed by masochistic or martyristic reactions, withdrawal, regression, and low self-esteem. Parenting a child with a disability means parents are charged with familiarizing themselves with the special education process, including referrals for services, signing consent to evaluate documentation, and becoming an active participant of the individualized education program (IEP) process (McCloskey, 2010). To assist parents of students with disabilities with some of the stressors and emotional outputs from having a child with a disability, Fareo (2015) suggested less emphasis be placed on the stressors of having a child with a disability, and instead provide resources and relationships for families to cope and build stability. Since schools and families share the responsibility of ensuring students obtain information and develop lifelong skills to live successfully in society (Cardona, Sachin, & Canfiled-Davis, 2012), setting up interventions and resources for families beginning with early childhood programs will benefit all stakeholders.