Being a parent of a child with a disability in Italy: from diagnosis to starting school
Engelsk titel: Being a parent of a child with a disability in Italy: from diagnosis to starting school
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Författare:
Zappella, Emanuela
Email: zappella, emanuela@virgilio.it
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 47
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 16113457
Sammanfattning
The birth of a child with a disability is a critical event for the whole family. Through in-depth
interviews and two focus groups, I collected the testimonies of a group of parents who talked about
their experience from being given the diagnosis to their children starting school. The data were
analysed using a phenomenological approach in order to report the participants’ points of view. The
results show the importance of three key elements that can affect the experience: how the diagnosis
is communicated; a comparison with what society defines as normal; family involvement in the
creation of a program that helps the child with a disability to start school. Collaboration between
teachers and families can help families to take an active role and to design interventions that will
enable both the child and the parents to have positive experiences regarding school.