TPC-Journal-V1-Issue1

63 A Preliminary Exploration of Support Systems for Parents of Children with Special Needs Chiharu Hensley Raising a child with special needs exacerbates the inherent challenges of parenting. Although the needs of children with special needs are addressed frequently in the literature, the needs of the parents of children with special needs are often neglected. In order to offer effective and useful services for parents of children with special needs, this article examines the types and nature of support services used by the parents of children with special needs and the effectiveness of those support services in reducing the parents’ stress levels and/or increasing their coping skills. Seventy-four parents of special needs children were assessed and results revealed that low-cost services, particularly those that resulted in mutual support, were a significant priority among parents. The article concludes with a discussion of clinical implications and needed directions for future research. Keywords : parenting, children, special needs, support services, counseling Parenting involves much effort and countless responsibilities. Child rearing can be one of the most challenging tasks with which a person is confronted. Raising a child with special needs intensifies the challenge significantly. However, although the needs of children with special needs are addressed frequently in professional literature and in the media, the needs of parents of children with special needs are addressed far less often. In order to offer effective and useful services for parents of children with special needs, their experiences with common issues and concerns and how their needs can be met must be investigated and understood because such information is essential to enable parents to feel empowered in raising their children with special needs. Parents of children with special needs often experience high levels of stress from both internal and external factors. For example, a study conducted by Heiman (2002) revealed that 84.4% of the participants who had children with various special needs experienced feelings including “depression, anger, shock, denial, fear, self-blame, guilt, sorrow, grief, confusion, despair, [and/or] hostility” at the time of their children’s first diagnoses. Barnett, Kaplan-Estrin, and Fialka (2003) reported a study of parents of children who were mildly or moderately impaired that showed about half of the parents were still experiencing negative responses to their children’s diagnoses two or more years after the initial diagnosis. In addition, parents of children with special needs may suffer being stereotyped by others. For example, Goddard, Lehr, and Lapadat (2000) used focus groups to collect individual narratives from parents of children with special needs. They found that, more than the parents’ guilt or the condition of the child, being perceived as a victim of a tragedy and the sole advocate for the child as well as a lack of understanding from others, including professionals, contributes to parental stress. Financial concern is another external factor which contributes to high stress levels in parents raising children with special needs. Looman, O’Conner-Von, Ferski, and Hildenbrand (2009) found that the severity of a child’s special needs increased the odds of financial burden experienced by the family. Clearly, there are a variety of both internal and external stressors, and accompanying emotional reactions, with which parents of children with special needs are confronted. Therefore, providing services to reduce the stress and negative feelings to minimum levels would lead to better quality of life for the parents of children with special needs. Given the relative lack of attention to the support service needs of parents raising children with special needs, the purpose of this study was to conduct an exploratory investigation of the types of services used by parents of children with special needs and the effectiveness of those services for reducing parents’ stress levels and increasing their coping skills. The Professional Counselor Volume 1, Issue 1 | Pages 63–70 © 2011 NBCC, Inc. and Affiliates www.nbcc.org http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org doi:10.15241/ch.1.1.63 Chiharu Hensley, NCC, is a professional counselor in Nagasaki, Japan. The author thanks Dr. Devika Dibya Choudhuri for generously and patiently guiding me through the entire process of the current study while I was a Master’s counseling student at Eastern Michigan University, and those who willingly participated in the study. Correspondence can be addressed to Chiharu Hensley, 9-1-403 Manabino 2-chome, Nagayo-cho, Nishisonogi County, Nagasaki, Japan, 851-2130, chiharu.hensley@gmail.com.