Serving Families of Children with Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

Increased cultural diversity in the United States and elsewhere in the west requires that the school special services providers be aware of differences among identity groups, and sensitive to how these variations influence parents' perceptions of, and responses to, their child with a developmental disability. Because concern about diversity is relatively recent, the data base for action is virtually nonexistent. Nonetheless, there exists sufficient information to alert the special services provider to such factors as culture, religion, race, and social class in developing service programs. Understanding the values, beliefs, and experiences of families enables one to provide more effective services than does operating with the assumption that everyone views the world through essentially the same lens.