Abstract

NUNES, Célia Cristina  and  AIELLO, Ana Lúcia Rossito. The relationship with a disabled sibling and describing the interaction: a descriptive study. Rev. bras. educ. espec. [online]. 2004, vol.10, n.02, pp.143-160. ISSN 1413-6538.

In the interaction between siblings, they can acquire many social and cognitive skills which are essential for a healthy social development. Studies investigating relationships between siblings of disabled children are important because this relationship can have some positive or negative differences from those between non-disabled siblings.Considering that there are not many Brazilian studies about this subject, the purpose of this research was: 1.Describe the sibling’s relationship in two couples, one with a disabled sibling and a non-disabled sibling, and another with non-disabled siblings; 2. Compare the performance of the couples during competitive and cooperative games, and 3. Compare the stress levels and coping strategies in daily situations. The couples were matched on age, family socio-economic status and number of family members. It was used the following instruments: Formulário de Irmãos (sibling’s questionnaire), interview with siblings and Inventário de Estresse (Stress note) e Enfrentamento de Irmãos (Sibling’s facing). Moreover, four sessions of sibling’s interactions were videotaped for each couple, during competitive and cooperative activities. Results revealed that: 1. the relationship between the couple with a disabled sibling was not so close, different in terms of care and there were role asymmetries, like showed in other studies; 2. there were not significative differences between the couples related to stressors frequency, but the coping strategies involving the own person - self-behavior and self-cognition - was that sibling of disabled child more used and better for the well-being; 3. the relationship between the couple of non-disabled siblings has more companionship. This researchdraws attention to the need of new researches about this subject with more participants.

Keywords : Mental Deficiency; Observations; Sibling’s Games.

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