Children and Young People with Disabilities (Incorporating Challenging Behaviour) : Family Resilience Where Families have a Child (0-8 years) with Disability : Literature Review

Abstract

This report is divided into three sections. The first part defines, describes and identifies family resilience as it applies to families where a child (0 - 8 years) has a disability. To contextualise resilience, this report traces the shift from studies on childhood to family resilience. The second part of the report looks at how this understanding of family resilience can be integrated with service provision. It looks at the affect service providers and professionals can have on families and the challenges of implementing family resilience research into practice. It provides a descriptive framework of practice elements that service providers and professionals can use to assist families to maintain, build and strengthen family resilience in families where a young child has a disability. The third part of this report explores the practicalities of measuring family resilience where a family includes a child with a disability (0 - 8 years). It looks at the challenges, problems and limitations for practitioners when attempting to measure family resilience and the reliability of these tools. Finally, this section offers ideas of how service provision can move forward in regard to working with families on resilience.