Group Psychotherapy for Parents with Special Needs Children: Integrating Psychodynamic and Creative Art

Parents’ and families’ needs change over time (Bristol and Schopler, 1983; DeMyer and Goldberg, 1983). The needs focused on understanding their special child’s diagnosis, dealing with the emotions that are stirred upon encountering a serious problem in their child’s development, finding services, and working intensively on behalf of their child. For older children, there is the growing realization that their child’s needs will continue over a lifetime. The parents play a key role in effective treatment of their children. They face multiple, demanding roles. Gallagher (1992) points out the complex demands on parents and the need to support family decision making and control, while providing sufficient professional expertise to enable their choices. They may confront sadness, anger, disappointment, or other complex emotions that can accompany the initial discovery that one’s child has a significant developmental problem and the ongoing need to make sacrifices to serve the needs of their child. Some families may encounter very substantial stress as they raise their children. There are significant research gaps in the area of interventions for parents of children with special needs, such as implementation of interventions in natural environments and support for child and family transitions. I found that little or no such research has been conducted, nor do these gaps appear to inform directions for future program development and research. This is the “why” we have for the intention to study this topic.