Parenting a Child with Disabilities: Personal Reflections

Abstract

This paper describes the complex experience of being the parent of a child with significant developmental disabilities. The author, who is the mother of a child with an autistic spectrum disorder, considers several phases that many parents pass through and some of the associated difficulties; the uncertainty, the dread, and the profound loss that surround the diagnosis of a disability. Based on her own experience, the author identifies the valuable role of a developmental, psychodynamic framework in understanding, processing and navigating these challenges. The paper discusses the significant contributions that psychoanalytically oriented clinicians can make in supporting parents' efforts to make sense of their own and their child's experience, and to manage the ongoing processes of adaptation, acceptance, and the challenges of parenting.