Family
Family
Family environments influence the development of all children,
including those with Down syndrome.
Research studies indicate that the majority of families cope well with bringing up a child with Down
syndrome. They find the resources to adapt and to cope with the additional needs of their child and
continue to lead ordinary lives. In these families, brothers and sisters lives do not seem affected
in negative ways in the long term and nor do marriage relationships, even though there may be times
when life seems to be more difficult as a result of meeting the needs of the family member with Down
syndrome.
However, some families find life difficult for a variety of reasons such as poverty, poor housing, significant
health difficulties or behavioural difficulties in their children and lack of family, community and
social supports. There is a lot of useful information from this research which can have practical relevance
for families and services.
Further reading and resources
Activities and achievements
The charity has not carried out any significant research on family issues to date but Trust staff have
reviewed the literature in a number of publications and have many years of personal and practical experience
of the issues facing families.
They share this knowledge and experience on training events especially when working with families in
the early months after their child's diagnosis.
Education
The charity has published 2 books[1,2] containing a review of the information on family issues
and need in the Down Syndrome Issues and Information series.
Trust staff have published 1 paper in a peer-reviewed journal[3], 5 articles in other publications
and presented 2 papers at conferences on family issues.
References
- Buckley, S. (2002). Issues for families with children with Down syndrome. Portsmouth, UK: Down
Syndrome Education International.
- Cuskelly, M., Brown, I., Shearer, J. and Singh, B. (2006). Families of adults with Down syndrome.
Portsmouth, UK: Down Syndrome Education International.
- Stores, R., Stores G., Fellows, B. & Buckley, S. (1998). Daytime behaviour problems and maternal
stress in children with Down syndrome, their siblings, their non-intellectually disabled and other intellectually
disabled peers. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 42, 3, 228-237.
A list of publications related to work in this area is available.