Abstract:
In recent years, increasing emphasis has been placed on the participation of parents in almost all phases of the adaptation, education and rehabilitation of their handicapped child. However, relatively little research has been conducted to identify the nature of interactions between handicapped and non-handicapped siblings. The well being of all family members within the family system, including brothers and sisters, is crucial to the treatment of the handicapped member, or any other individual in the family system. Generally, the focus of research investigations has been on the potential negative effect of the impaired child on siblings, and the outcome of such investigations has pointed to a variety of potential problems. The theoretical background of this study is the systems theory as well as developmental psychology. Supplementing this is literature concerning the exceptional family and the influence that the exceptional child has on every member of the family system within the family circle. The goals of the investigation were to develop a workbook to improve communication, the handling of conflict between the mother and her normal primary school child, as well as the evaluation of the process taking place between them. The sample of subjects consisted of an experimental and a control family (mother and son). The experimental family participated in the intervention programme, while the control group only took part in the first and last phase. Emphasis was on mother-child interaction. The measuring instruments that were used were the thematic apperception test and a nine-point-scale. Graphic representations of the data collected during the sessions that were video taped, are given. Significant results were found in the interaction in some of the sessions. Since it appears that the effects of sibling relationships between handicapped and non-handicapped children cannot be attributed to a single factor, a multivariate approach may be a more productive to determine the outcome.
