Abstract

MINETTO, Maria de Fátima  and  LOHR, Suzane Schmidlin. Beliefs and educational practices of mothers of children with atypical development. Educ. Rev. [online]. 2016, n.59, pp.49-64. ISSN 1984-0411.  https://doi.org/10.1590/0104-4060.44791.

Atypical human development interferes in the learning process of children who have it and parents have an important role to play in stimulating the development of their children. However, parental involvement suffers the influence of the beliefs they have regarding the development of their children. In order to assess such beliefs Suizzo (2002) created the Scale of Parental Beliefs and Care Practices (S-PBCP). A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using S-PBCP with 75 mothers of children diagnosed as having intellectual disability, 41 of whom had no phenotype (among other disabilities, this group included children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders) and whose intellectual disability was perceived in the first years of life, as well as 34 mothers of children with Down Syndrome identified as such at birth. 94.11% of the children with Down Syndrome attended special schools, whilst this percentage fell to 80.48% in children with no phenotype. The first dimension indicated by the mothers in both groups was the Appropriate Presentation of the baby, involving the valuing of basic care, followed by: Stimulation; Responsiveness/bond; Discipline. When analysing pairs of S-PBCP dimensions it was found that there was only a difference between the groups in the Presentation-Responsiveness/bond dimensions, it being positive and statistically significant for the children with Down Syndrome, but having no significant relationship for the other group. Being able to count on a support network as soon as possible appears as an important suggestion in both groups.

Keywords : care practices; educational practices; atypical development; parental beliefs..

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