Ordinary Families, Special Children A Systems Approach to Childhood Disability

This popular clinical reference and text provides a multisystems perspective on childhood disability and its effects on family life. The volume examines how child, family, ecological, and sociocultural variables intertwine to shape the ways families respond to disability, and how professionals can promote coping, adaptation, and empowerment. Accessible and engaging, the book integrates theory and research with vignettes and firsthand reflections from family members.

I. Conceptual Framework1. Introduction and Conceptual Framework I: Social and Cultural Systems2. Conceptual Framework II: Family Systems Theory and Childhood Disability3. All Families Are Not Alike: Social and Cultural Diversity in Reaction to Childhood DisabilityII. The Family Life Cycle4. Becoming the Parent of a Child with a Disability: Reactions to First Information5. Childhood: Continuing Adaptation6. Looking to the Future: Adolescence and AdulthoodIII. The Family System7. Effects on the Family as a System8. Effects on Fathers9. Effects on Siblings10. Effects on GrandparentsIV. Approaches to Intervention11. Professional–Family Interaction: Working toward Partnership12. Perspectives and Approaches for Working with Families13. Applying a Partnership Approach to Identifying Family Resources, Concerns, and Priorities: Developing Family Service Plans

Milton Seligman, PhD, is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychology in Education at the University of Pittsburgh. His chief academic interest is in the area of childhood disability and the family. Other areas of instruction and scholarship include individual and group psychotherapy and clinical supervision. Retired since 2004, Dr. Seligman maintains a private practice and serves on the editorial board for the Journal for Specialists in Group Work.Rosalyn Benjamin Darling, PhD, is Professor Emerita of Sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Prior to assuming her academic position, she served for 15 years as the executive director of an agency serving young children with disabilities and their families and was the founder and first president of the Early Intervention Providers Association of Pennsylvania. Dr. Darling has authored or coauthored eight books and numerous articles and chapters on disability and human services. She has played an active role in many state- and national-level disability-related organizations and committees and is currently engaged in research on orientations toward disability.