An Overview of Parents with Intellectual Disability - Case Study Example

Assignment 1: Case study (Name) (University Affiliation) (Date) Introduction Even though there is no specific globally accepted definition associated with the phrase intellectual disability, in Australia an individual with an intelligence quotient (IQ) of less than seventy is regarded as a person with an intellectual disability. Therefore, even though a person may be having an intellectual disability it is important to note that not all individuals with this condition behave or act the same as everyone often has a different degree of intellectual as well as adaptive functioning (Aunos, Feldman, Goupil, 2008). Therefore, this explains why an individual’s parental needs often need to be analyzed and attended to on a case-by-case basis. Accordingly, for a long time, studies have indicated that parents with intellectual disability often experience higher levels of systematic disadvantage thus impacting their ability to parent. Some of the systematic disadvantages that parents with intellectual disability often face include family stress, poverty, the need for practical support as opposed to formal support as well as past negative experiences with support. As such, using five cases of mothers with intellectual abilities, the paper will come with up a plan that incorporates a group ensuring that the needs of the group members are identified. Essentially, the focus of the group will be to cater for the parents that will be identified in the different five cases. An Overview of Parents with Intellectual Disability Before the 1960s, a significant number of individuals with intellectual disabilities were often segregated from the society and as such institutionalised. These kinds of individuals were locked away from the community for the fear that in the case of procreation the disability would be perpetuated. However, after a series of protests and interventions from the civil society in 1970, there was a subsequent widespread deinstitutionalization of people with intellectual disability, which led to their re-integration into the community (Aunos and Feldman, 2007). Even though people with intellectual disabilities were now fully re-integrated into the community, the transition was exceptionally difficult since there were insignificantly few specialised services available for these individuals. More aggravatingly, parenting services for mothers were rarely available for this “forgotten generation” (Tymchuk, Lakin, & Luckasson, 2001). This oversight was as well further hindered by the fact that there was widely held stereotype that persons with intellectual disabilities did not have the ability to procreate because of their genetic make-up. These strongly held beliefs, which were misguided, were soon disapproved as these individuals adopted the goals and values of the broader society including the desire to engage in relationships as well as have children. Consequently, a need arose for educational and training services associated with protection from vulnerability and abuse, parenting, social skill as well as sexual health and reproduction. Mothers with children for instance significantly needed parenting training as well as other essential supports in order to create an enabling environment were the children can grow. Group Formation and Allocation of responsibilities and Roles According to Aunos and Feldman, (2007) a group intervention format is the most commonly used technique used by both the social workers as well as health practitioners in teaching parenting skills to mothers with intellectual disabilities. As such, the program will use a group intervention approach to train the mothers in the case studies with intellectual disabilities, who have various case histories as it will be seen later in this paper. The group will comprise of five mothers who have intellectual disabilities with various case history and six service workers who will help in impacting the lives of the patients as well as their families. There would be six social workers who will be involved in the program and will be selected through an interview in order to recruit individuals who are willing to commitment themselves to changing the lives of the selected mothers who have different levels of intellectual disabilities. For one to be part of the group as a service provider he or she will have to prove that he or she understands the clients’ needs and the desired outcomes. Besides, the service providers will have the required experience and expertise in the social work profession. On the other hand, the clients, who are mothers with dire parental skills and counselling, will be assessed and their background history checked in order to align their particular needs with the objectives and training associated with the program. In other words, the assessment of every individual would be necessary to link the purpose of the group with the personal needs of every mother with an intellectual disability. Before the initiation of the first meeting, the service providers will meet in order to come up with the guiding rules and procedures that will guide members during the program. Secondly, the group members will be contacted through face to face conversation in order for them to understand the nature of the program as well as how they would benefit from the procedure. Third activity will be to prepare the environment, where the meetings will be held and the resources to be used. Therefore, at this particular phase, various venues will be booked and visual aids such as projectors, white boards and posters will be acquired. The members will often meet three days a week from morning to evening. Work Plan The program will incorporate various supporting initiatives in order to handle the five cases individually and as a group. Some of the activities will include Centre-based programs, home visiting programs as well as shared parenting models. Through in-home programs, the social workers in the group will have an opportunity to model as well as teach parenting skills in a setting that the parents would use them. Notably, this technique will be significant as it makes the skills being delineated by the social workers easier for the parents to learn. In essence, the service providers also known as the social workers will be in a position to provide appropriate supports while at the same time paying attention to cleanliness, nutrition, safety concerns as well as other issues closely attached to the homes of the mothers that have intellectual disabilities. The service providers in the form of parenting groups will organise themselves and instruct the families (those that have learning problems) to meet and taken through topics associated with child development, decision-making skills, health as well as well as child development. A significant number studies have indicated that parents with intellectual disabilities often consistently gain skills through the above-delineated skill (Clayton et al., 2008). Besides, these mothers are often successful when a home-visiting is followed after the parenting group initiative has been carried out (Clayton et al., 2008). In essence, this would enable mothers to practice what they would have learned in the group meetings under support as well as observation of the service providers or instructor. Through the center-based programs, both the parents and the children will benefit from a number of services offered at the program site. Under this program, both the mother and the child can receive the service jointly and separately. According to Secomb (2008), the center-based programs are usually more efficient when reinforced with in-home training. This is because they often offer several services as well as instructions such as financial management, parenting skills as well as cooking. Through shared parenting, mothers in particular case studies will be given a full-time support when the child together with the mother live in foster care. However, most of the services will come from a foster provider in order to ensure that all the children's needs are met. Needs of the Group Members Alice Case Study #1 Alice, a mother of a newborn baby and Jamie, the father of the child, have intellectual disabilities. Alice has a baby at a tender of fourteen years and worrying enough; she dropped out of school due to her intellectual disabilities. Consequently, she is in need of a significant amount of support as well as need as listed below, i) Counselling associated with mental health ii) Basic academic education iii) Postnatal care education and support iv) Service coordination v) Early intervention services as well as child care. vi) Care and love Marie Case Study #2 Marie is in her early 20s and has learning difficulties. She has delivered a baby prematurely. Besides, she was raised in a foster care thus does not have any contact as well as friends apart from her partner’s relative. She has a high level of stress due to constant conflict with her neighbour. She has had five children before, who had been moved from her by the protective services as she was deemed not suitable to take care of the children due to her intellectual disabilities. As such, she has self-esteem issues and psychologically distressed. Accordingly, Marie needs the following needs; 1) An extensive psychotherapy and depression 2) Postnatal parenting skills 3) Socialisation needs. 4) Financial management skills 5) She will need care and love 6) Child care skills or training Mary Case Study # 3 Mary, a 27-year-old mother has learning challenges thus can be considered as having intellectual disabilities. Her two children have been previously removed by protective. However, she managed to prove that she can take good care of her third child thus was allowed to keep the child. She has no support from family and separated from her partner, who was a drug addict. She currently stays in a residential stay unit since she is homeless and has a small child. i) She needs love and care ii) Parenting skills iii) Counseling iv) She needs a planned as well as resourced on-going support in order to maintain contact with her two children that she lost custody of. v) Crisis intervention services vi) Healthcare as well as learning to deal with health care providers Tina and Gary case study #4 Tina is a mother of one daughter and is having intellectual disabilities and as such has issues with learning things. She dropped out of school at 16 and later moved out to go and live with her partner despite her parent’s disapproval. She has self-esteem issues and still not sure if she is raising her in daughter in the proper manner. On the other hand, Gary has anger issues and as such, he is creating an unfavourable environment for the Sara, their daughter. Tina needs the following; i) Affection, love and care ii) Counselling to boost her self-esteem iii) Basic academic education iv) Anger management as she once beat her daughter v) Mental health counselling Julie and Neville case study #5 Julie and Neville are partners and have had two children. Both of them have intellectual disabilities and their first born baby was taken to foster parents after a court decision on the pretext that Julie, the mother's child did not have an insight with regards to the baby’s needs. The needs are required in this case; I) Service coordination II) Healthcare skills this would help her to learn how to deal with healthcare workers as she has issues with doctors. III) Basic academic education IV) Early intervention services for the child. V) Help with financial management VI) Parent training VII) Counseling VIII) Training on house management The desired outcome First, the mothers will learn how to raise their children properly hence introducing an improved parent-child interaction scenario. Besides, after acquiring proper parenting skills, all the mothers will be allowed to take custody of the children without the intervention of the child protection units. Further, the mothers will be financially empowered as they would be in a position to manage their incomes and upgrade their living standards. The mothers will improve their reading and writing capabilities thus enhancing their self-esteem. It is also expected that any child-related court order that could lead to the moving of a child from her mother will be lifted (Booth, Booth & McConnell, 2015). Another important primary outcome desire would be safe-home practices this would happen through teaching the parents about the safety and danger at their homes. The parents will also have an upper hand as far as the understanding of child health is concerned. This program will facilitate the learning and understanding of issues associated with child health, illness as well as development. For instance, the mothers will now be able to know symptoms, the use of medication as well as emergencies Role of the six social workers Following the programs, a curriculum will be followed to the latter as seen in the diagram below. The primary function of the social workers would be to necessitate the mothers to access universal as well as universal care. Besides, the social workers in the group will carry out counselling sessions with every parent depending on specific case studies. They will also explore volunteer opportunities at child care centres. They will carry out training on parental skills as seen in the diagram below. Social workers training schdule. Conclusion Even though conflicting views associated with defining as well as measuring parenting adequacy have often come up, a significant number of mothers with intellectual disabilities usually face additional obstacles to providing adequate parenting care. Consequently, as discussed in this paper, Some of these challenges include problem-solving difficulties, decreased awareness associated with care skills, challenges in offering a stimulating home environment with regard to developmental ages as well as inconsistent parent-child interactions. The paper has also gathered that in other cases, parents with intellectual disabilities usually experience poor mental health, high parenting stress levels as well as social isolation, which more often than not burgeon when children start school. As such, using five cases of mothers with intellectual abilities, the paper has successfully come up with up a plan that incorporates a group ensuring that the needs of the group members are identified. References Aunos, M., & Feldman, M. (2007). Parenting by people with intellectual disabilities. In I. Brown, & M. Percy (Eds.), A comprehensive guide to intellectual and developmental disabilities (pp. 595 605). Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Aunos, M., Feldman, M., & Goupil, G. (2008). Mothering with intellectual disabilities: Relationship between social support, health and well-being, parenting and child behavior. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 21, 320–330 Booth, T., Booth, W., & McConnell, D. (2015). The prevalence and outcomes of care proceedings involving parents with learning difficulties in the family courts. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 18, 7–17 Clayton, O., Chester, A., Mildon, R, & Matthews, J. (2008). Practitioners who work with with parents with intellectual disability: Stress, coping, and training needs. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 21, 367–376. Secomb, J. (2008). A systematic review of peer teaching and learning in clinical education. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 17(6), 703-716. Tymchuk, A., Lakin, K., & Luckasson, R. (2001). The forgotten generation: The status and challenges of adults living with mild cognitive limitations. Baltimore, MA: Paul H. Brooks Publishing Co. Read More