Maternal Ways of Knowing: Positions With Implications for Early Intervention

Abstract

This study explores theories of adult development relevant to maternal experiences that may impact family and child outcomes in early childhood special education. An ethic of responsibility for the mothers of young children with disabilities corroborates with nondevelopmental theories. The core of the theoretical framework of this study comes from women's developmental theory (Belenky, Clinchy, Goldbergel; & Tarule, 1997; Gilligan, 1999) as well as aspects of cognitive development. Forty-five mothers were interviewed for this study. Three (preliminary) findings are that mothers with infants or young children with special educational needs: (a) shift nondevelopmentally among three of the five epistemological positions posited by Belenky: received, subjective, and procedural; (b) take epistemological shifts/positions at significant life events related to the child rather than the family, such as receiving a diagnosis or preparing transition plans; and (c) define responsibility for their choices with an awareness of sacrifices to "modern" morality or personal needs when in the subjective or procedural positions. Two implications of this study are first, that individualized perspective shifting of the primary caregiver mothers must be respected as an ethic of responsibility, not as dysfunctional or adolescent. Second, in order for an intervention team to foster family efficacy, which is the spirit and mandate of the federal law, alternative theories of development must be taught in higher education with the same rigor as the teaching of child development.