Living with a family member who has a learning disability can be challenging and stressful for the whole family - parents, siblings and extended family. The impacts on a family of having a member with a learning disability will most likely depend on the type of condition and the severity.
For parents having a child with a learning disability may increase stress, affect their mental and physical health, put an extra strain on their finances, influence decisions about work, education/ training, having additional children and relying on others for support. They may blame themselves or feel guilty in relation to having a child with a learning disability, lowering their confidence and self-esteem. Having a child with a learning disability may divert
Disability brings problems to schools too causing the child to be disadvantaged. These could include lack of specialist staff or poor staff knowledge which can lead to lack of socialisation and integration into the school.
A child with learning problems may be many developmental years behind their peers, this will have a big impact on what they can do in all areas of development including physical skills, social skills and intellectual skills. They may find it especially hard to interact with children of the same age or stay interested in conversation. They may also need to have one-to-one lessons at school to help educate them as they may not be at the same cognitive stage as peers. This may leave them feeling left out.
Every parent wants the best for their child, after all a child is a person’s most precious possession. For this very reason having a child with a learning disability becomes extremely stressful. Nathan V’s was a very outgoing child verbally articulate and a
1. A learning disability affects the way a person learns new things in any area of life, not just at school. It affects the way they understand information and how they communicate. Around 1.5 million people within the UK have one. This means they have a difficulty:
To find that a member a family has learning difficulty is a huge shock for the rest of the family and brings emotions and new challenges. Living with a disabled person can have profound effects on the entire family–parents, siblings(brothers and sisters).For parents, having a disabled child
If parents, teachers, and other professionals discover a child's learning disability early and provide the right kind of help, it can give the child a chance to develop skills needed to lead a successful and productive life. The LD online website provides a long list of characteristics that might indicate a learning disability between the ages of Kindergarten and high school. Some common signs of a learning disability that as a teacher we can look for in the classroom would be, a student speaks later than most children, pronunciation problems, slow vocabulary growth, student is often unable to find the right word, difficulty rhyming words, trouble learning numbers, alphabet, colors, and shapes, extremely restless and easily distracted, trouble interacting with peers, difficulty following directions or routines, and lastly the fine motor skills are slow to develop. Once the teacher or parents can understand what type of learning disability a child has they can help them succeed academically by providing instruction better and understanding the person
When a child doesn’t seem to be learning, some teachers and parents in his/her life might criticize the child and think of them as stupid, or maybe just too lazy to want to learn. What they don’t realize is that the child might have a learning disability. But how are these children being helped? There are many programs, special schools and facilities, home teaching methods and many other ways in which children with Learning Disabilities are being helped.
Describe the possible impact on a family of having a member with a learning disability.
By taking steps to understand a child with a disability, understanding their needs and building on their strengths, and providing a supportive environment can a child maximize their learning potential.
When some people think of someone with a learning disability they often think of someone who is not able to contribute to society. It is often assumed people with learning disabilities are people who have low intelligence, work the school systems, and are socially awkward. As someone who has a learning disability these misconceptions have made it difficult for me to be open about it and prove these stereotypes wrong. Most of these misconceptions stem from people not understanding what alearning disabilities are, a learning disability “results from a difference in the way a person's brain is wired. Children with learning disabilities are as smart or smarter than their peers. But they have difficulty reading, writing, spelling, reasoning, recalling and/or organizing information if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways” (idonline.org).
Different disabilities may affect development in different ways. However, with support from teachers and parents, these affects can be minimalised. A learning disability such as Dyslexia (a common type of learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling) could lead to a child becoming frustrated which could further lead to behavioural issues. Moreover, without assistance, Dyslexia will allow for the child to become unmotivated and prove to be a hindrance to them as they look to strive in later life. Physical disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy (a neurological condition that effects movement and coordination) will affect development as children will have difficulties communicating, eating and drinking and with their
I found a lot a new thing in the readings and video that I haven 't thought about before. I 'm a little embarrassed that I have never thought about some of these things. I am a very independent person and that is something that was stressed to me my entire life as a valuable quality to have. I was always told make sure I get a job so I can support myself and move out of the house. I never once thought about staying with my parents or them moving in with me I had assumed everyone was taught the same.
When Andy was born I was the happiest woman on Earth. When I saw his beautiful face and his tiny body I cried, I will never forget that moment. We stayed in the hospital for three days. That first night back from the hospital Andy didn’t do anything but cry all night long. I did not know what to do, this was my first child, and I didn’t know how to calm him down. I called the Doctor and he explained to me that this was the normal behavior for a first born child, and he just needed to adjust to the new environment. I would give Andy his milk, change his diaper, hold him, sing to him, but nothing would stop Andy’s crying. We didn’t much sleep. That week my husband had to work so I had to deal with Andy by myself, which was frustrating.
The study that was conducted tested the hypotheses that having a child that is learning disabled will have a negative effect on family life and on siblings in particular. The study was conducted through the use of focus groups which conducted in depth group interviews and consisted of ten families represented by eleven parents.
Parenting in Lesbian-Gay (LGBT) or Same-Sex Couple Homes. A review study (American Psychological Association, 2005) showed no evidence that lesbian or gay parents are unfit to parent children nor are the children under their care as parents are disadvantaged psychosocially or economically as compared with heterosexual couples. Nevertheless, this study admitted that data on LGBT parents are limited (American Psychological Association, 2005). The same findings were noted in another study (Telingator & Patterson,2008).