Rehab Professionals

Parents have their own emotional reactions and difficulties with the acceptance and adaptations to the disability or illness of a family member. The family experience similar emotional reactions to a physical disability or illness. They may experience this reaction in similar sequence. Parents may use adaptive mechanisms, such as denial, experience mourning and feelings of dissociation. Parents are faced with long-range caretaking commitments and depletion of personal time for things to enjoy, but as we can see, parents have different coping styles and strategies for managing family crises. They can see alternative solutions, solve problems and make family lifestyle adaptations with professional support such as rehabilitation. One part of and the rehabilitation team is Occupational therapy. The Occupational therapist goal is to perform with satisfaction to self and others those task roles essential to productive living and to the mastery of self and the environment. One of its concern is helping children with developmental disabilities such as Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome and Mental retardation in which Occupational therapy services may address diverse issues such as developing component areas, specific skills, occupational behavior and compensation for disabilities and prevention of further handicapping conditions. Occupational therapy programs for children with special needs are design to promote adaptation and prevent secondary that would occur during development and to facilitate independent functioning of these children.

The special needs and vulnerabilities of a child with a handicapping condition can be a major rallying point. A family’s socioeconomic status has many implications for adaptation of a child having disability. Although families with higher incomes and education may have more resources available to cope with their child, higher socioeconomic status does not automatically guarantee better coping because they are more achievement oriented and consider physical or mental disability as a severe disappointment to their aspiration for the child. Parents with higher socioeconomic status may have great sense of control and usually stressed by the birth of a child with handicap, which contradicts their belief that they are in control of their lives. Personal characteristics of individual family members affect the way how the family functions as a whole. These personal characteristics can be strengths or drawbacks for the family as a whole. Williamson and Zeitlin (1986) noted that coping strategies influences family functioning, satisfaction, feelings of efficacy and child’s outcome. It is the responsibility of our rehabilitation professionals to form an organization that will help parents to be aware in their child cases. It is their duty to conduct some seminars or information campaigns for the parents to be able for them to understand the situation, proper approach and management for their children.

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