Aspects of the minds of mothers of children with developmental but no intellectual disabilities and the nature of these disabilities.
Akiha Yumoto, Teruo Yokoi
PMID 33132531WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers of children with developmental disabilities without intellectual impairment described a slow realization of the problem because the children appeared typical in early years.
Anxiety peaked when school failure and social rejection damaged the children's self-esteem, leading to severe distress.
Key findings
01Mothers struggled to identify the disability early because children with developmental disabilities but no intellectual disability often appeared active and able to communicate in kindergarten.
02The children's self-esteem dropped significantly when teachers misunderstood their struggles as laziness or playing, leading some children to refuse school or express suicidal thoughts.
03Mothers reported that children's abilities improved dramatically when teachers changed their methods to accommodate learning disabilities, rather than forcing standard practices.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only three mothers, so the findings cannot be generalized to all families. The participants were recruited from a parents' association, which may mean they were already more connected to support networks than the general population. The analysis focused on common concepts, which may have missed unique individual experiences.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the reported improvement in children's abilities after teaching changes as proof of a specific therapeutic intervention. This was a qualitative report of three families' experiences with school adjustments, not a controlled trial of a treatment method.