In this chapter, we apply a multi-system resilience conceptual framework to a review of research on families of children and adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We review research on the challenges that parents experience and the protective factors that have important implications for children’s development and adjustment. The research is clear that, compared to parents of typically developing children, parents of children with LD experience parenting stress, low parenting self-efficacy, and mental health challenges. Parents’ beliefs about the importance of academic achievement and their attributions for the academic difficulties of their child with LD influence how they help their child with schoolwork. Parents who have high educational aspirations for their LD child and are ashamed of their child’s low achievement tend to use strategies that involve control and coercion, whereas parents who believe that they, in conjunction with educators, are responsible for their child’s learning are more likely to provide structure and encouragement. Although children with LD report less secure attachment with both parents and adolescents with LD report less secure attachment with their fathers, among children and adolescents with LD, secure attachment is a protective factor with regard to mental health, sense of coherence, and feelings of hope. We describe the implications of these findings for intervention.

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Families of Children and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities: Relationships, Resources, and Coping

  • Michal Al-Yagon,
  • Malka Margalit

摘要

In this chapter, we apply a multi-system resilience conceptual framework to a review of research on families of children and adolescents with learning disabilities (LD). We review research on the challenges that parents experience and the protective factors that have important implications for children’s development and adjustment. The research is clear that, compared to parents of typically developing children, parents of children with LD experience parenting stress, low parenting self-efficacy, and mental health challenges. Parents’ beliefs about the importance of academic achievement and their attributions for the academic difficulties of their child with LD influence how they help their child with schoolwork. Parents who have high educational aspirations for their LD child and are ashamed of their child’s low achievement tend to use strategies that involve control and coercion, whereas parents who believe that they, in conjunction with educators, are responsible for their child’s learning are more likely to provide structure and encouragement. Although children with LD report less secure attachment with both parents and adolescents with LD report less secure attachment with their fathers, among children and adolescents with LD, secure attachment is a protective factor with regard to mental health, sense of coherence, and feelings of hope. We describe the implications of these findings for intervention.