Abstract
When parents understand their child’s developmental problems and special needs, they can obtain services, they can connect with other parents for support and mutual assistance, and they can form coalitions to advocate for more and better services and for research into treatment and prevention. However, initially learning about their child’s significant developmental problems is very distressing for most parents. First hearing the words “autism” and “mental retardation” is one of their worst nightmares come true, with fear, pain, grief, disbelief, rage, and heartache flooding them as the professional talks. Although professionals in psychology, education, medicine, etc. chose their careers in order to help people, not to cause them distress, the very nature of telling parents that their child has a developmental disability involves inflicting extraordinary pain. So the process of explaining developmental test results to parents can be difficult for professionals as well as for parents (Abrams & Goodman, 1998; Lipton & Svarstad, 1977; Nissenbaum, Tollefson, & Reese, 2002).
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Mesibov, G.B. et al. (2004). Providing Diagnostic Information to Parents. In: The Teacch Approach to Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48647-0_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48647-0_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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