Discuss potential life cycle issues that parents and siblings may experience in each stage of the family life cycle: early childhood, school age, adolescence, and adulthood.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Early Childhood
Parental Issues: obtaining accurate diagnosis, informing siblings and relatives, locating services, seeking to find meaning in the exceptionality, clarifying a personal ideology to guide decisions, addressing issues of stigma, identifying positive contributions of exceptionality, setting great expectations
Sibling Issues: less parental time and energy, feelings of jealousy, fears associated with misunderstandings of exceptionality
School Age
Parental Issues: establishing routines, adjusting emotionally to educational implications, placement decisions, IEP considerations, community resources, extracurricular activities
Sibling Issues: division of responsibility for any physical care needs, oldest female sibling may be at risk, limited family resources for recreation/leisure, informing friends and teachers, concern for other siblings, mainstreaming in same school, need for basic information
Adolescence
Parental Issues: adjusting emotionally, issues of emerging sexuality, peer isolation and rejection, career/vocational development, leisure time activities, physical and emotional changes of puberty, postsecondary education
Sibling Issues: over identification with sibling, greater understanding of differences in people, influence of exceptionality on career choice, possible stigma and embarrassment, participation in sibling training programs, opportunity for sibling support groups
Adulthood
Parental Issues: planning for possible need for guardianship, addressing need for appropriate adult implications of dependency, addressing the need for socialization, initiating career choices or vocational program
Sibling Issues: possible issues of responsibility for financial support, addressing concerns regarding genetic implications, introducing new in-laws to exceptionality, need for information on career/living options, clarifying role of sibling advocacy, possible issues of guardianship