Help for parents of handicapped

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33933, 28 August 1975, Page 6

Help for parents of handicapped

Personal help and comfort for the parents of handicapped children could he better provided by similar parents than all the “professionls” nut together, according *o Mr Peter Hallinan. a lecturer in special edu'•atinn at the Christchurch Teachers’ College. Mr Hallinan said that parents interviewed in a study . he conducted in Christchurch recently believed that

the medical profession was a 'major source of support, but ■ whereas they could provide the facts of the case, parents in a similar situation could I offer greater emotional support. He also said that the ini tegration of voluntary orI ganisatiohs into one large ' bureaucratic group might : not. be in the best interest of (parents of handicapped ' children as the small personal group was better able to ' provide the emotional sup(port needed.

Mr Hallinan was speaking to the Early Childhood Care and Development Convention yesterday on counselling of parents of handicapped children. His information came from the study of 94 families with handicapped .children in and around 'Christchurch this year. DISTURBING ‘ Speaking about the birth of a handicapped child, Mr i Hallinan said it was disturbI ing to find that only one in five of fathers ’ interviewed was present at the birth. He 1 added that it was important that the delay in telling the parents the child was handi-

capped should be as short as possible. Counselling j from then on should be conducted in a personal, informal atmosphere, he said. Mr Hallinan found from his study that parents welcomed reading material on the subject in the initial stages but this became much (less important later. “I would suggest that all the voluntary societies in liaison with the medical profession should have a policy of placing suitable literature with the parents as soon as ; possible,” Mr Hallinan said, i “They should also periodiIcally review this material.” FREE SERVICE At present, he 'said, programmes on television and 1 radio were important sources of information about handicaps. So, too, were articles in magazines and newspapers. Mr Hallinan said it was important that parents be made aware of what was available to them. Many did not know, for example, that the Education Department’s psychological service was free. “Although some parents were very happy with the present services, many felt that there was a need for improvement in the range and quality of services." The need for more widely available speech therapy was one specific suggestion. “Parents of severely or profoundly retarded children are becoming increasingly aware and concerned about the relative lack of provi-

sion for their children. More than one parent is aware of the savage irony of paying taxes to support educational services that their children are then barred from enjoying.”