Mothers’ acceptance of their children’s disabilities

Abstract

How do mothers who learn that their children have disabilities face up to this and accept their children? This study built on the latest available research on mothers ’ acceptance of their children ’ s disabilities. Interviews were conducted with mothers （ N ＝ 10 ） . Five mothers had children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities and five mothers had autistic children, including two mothers having children with atypical autism. We developed a model of mothers ’ acceptance of their children ’ s disabilities based on these interviews. The model indicated that physical and mental development of children with autism was very different from that of children with severe motor and intellectual disabilities. We focused on both groups of children and constructed a hypothetical model that could be used to treat different disabilities.