91Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ

Lucyna Lach, PhD, School of Social Work, 91Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ University.

Establishing a Program of Research:  Parenting Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Caregivers of children with neurodevelopmental disorders with and without externalizing behaviour problems have the most compromised physical health, psychological health, and family function when compared to caregivers of children who have neither of these conditions.  Yet, our society expects these caregivers to parent children with some of the most complex chronic health conditions, sometimes with very limited support.  There is much ‘received wisdom’ among allied health professionals about what constitutes ‘good’ parenting.  The field is bereft with assumptions that have yet to be tested.  Furthermore, little is known about how to conceptualize parenting of children with neurodevelopmental disorders, whether and how it differs from parenting of children without neurodevelopmental disorders, what makes a difference to how parents parent, and what difference parenting makes to the well-being of these children.  The presentation will describe four concurrent studies that were recently funded to address these questions.