Psychology And The Handicapped Child

‘Some years ago I read the phrase "the spontaneous revulsion to the deformed". The phrase seemed to be both potent and provocative: Was there a spontaneous revulsion to disabilities in children or did such conditions evoke a more compassionate response?’ Originally published in 1978, the problems of the disabled were no longer confined to the medical and educational professionals, but had become the concern of the community as a whole. Using terminology very much of the time, the author shows how attitudes towards different kinds of disability had developed at the time; they varied both regionally and by social class, sometimes calling into question the accepted ‘facts’ about the distribution of a particular condition. Most importantly, the author examines these attitudes together with many other social and psychological factors in relation to their impact on the social behaviour and developing self-image of the disabled child. It becomes clear that the dangers of categorization and the difficulties in overcoming stigma have a profound influence on the education and socialization of disabled children. This book will be of historical interest to students and teachers of psychology, education, social work and rehabilitation; and it will provide insight for parents and all those concerned with the care and development of the disabled child about how far we have come.

This book introduces current theories and research on disability, and builds on the premise that disability has to be understood from the dialectical dynamics of biology, psychology, and culture over time. Based on the newest empirical research on children with disabilities, the book overcomes the limitations of the medical and social models of disability by arguing for a dialectical biopsychosocial model. The proposed model builds on Vygotsky’s cultural-historical ideas of developmental incongruence, implying that the disability emerges from the misfit between individual abilities and the cultural-historical activity settings in which the child with impairments participates. The book is a theoretical contribution to an updated understanding of disability from a psychological and educational perspective. It focuses on the first years of the life of the child with impairment, and travels through infancy, toddler, preschool and early school age, to track the developmental trajectories of disability through the dialectical processes of cultural, social, individual, and biological processes. It discusses a number of themes that are relevant for the early development and support for children with various types and degrees of disability through the lens of Vygotsky’s cultural-historical developmental theories. Some of the themes discussed are inclusion, mental health, communication, aids and family life.

Psychological research on children with mental and physical handicaps began two hundred years ago. Its major development awaited the maturation of psychology as an empirical science and of social movements for child welfare and education. This book is a record of the research accomplished in the 1980s. While at the end of the 19th century, behavioral research on handicapped children could at best be characterized as pioneering; by the beginning of the 1990s, it had become a vigorous activity with scientists producing hundreds of articles a year. The result has been a level of detail in theory and factual support that was not previously available. This volume is written for those who know something about psychology and education, but who are unfamiliar with research on children with handicaps. This might include parents of children with handicaps, upper-level undergraduate and graduate students looking for research topics, and professionals in developmental psychology and the education of normal children who wish to familiarize themselves with the recent developments in the study of deviations in behavioral development.

First published in 1986, this book reviews research on the role parents play in fostering the early development of children with mental handicaps. Professionals and parents must work together to give such children the chance of living as ordinary lives as possible and here, the author develops a broadly-based conceptual framework for the involvement of parents as teachers of their young handicapped children. McConachie identifies characteristics of parents which seem of particular relevance to the design and success of intervention programmes. Although written in the 1980s, this book discusses topics that are still important today.