Working with Parents of Preschool Children with Developmental Problems.

This paper reports characteristics of mothers in a special needs preschool program and describes features of the program. Children in the program range in mental test performance from untestable to superior and in severity of problem from mild to severe. The program provides informal assessment and parent staff discussions along with opportunities to meet in small groups of parents and children on a regular basis several times each week. Other program features are individual planning and outreach activities. Work with the mother/child unit involves consideration of mother's characteristics. Mothers who appear to be over-protective/anxiously involved; intellectualized/low-involved; unprepared and uninformed; or depressed are discussed although few of the mothers fit into one of these categories. Next, mothers' feelings of hopelessness and despair, feelings of fragmentation from input of multiple services, social isolation, inadequacy, failure and guilt, and inaccurate perception of child abilities are described. The report lists and discusses program options for working with parents, such as classroom participation, mother group meetings, individual planning, workshops, program related activities, home visits, videotape reviews of child behavior, and Saturday school for fathers. Program effectiveness and evaluation efforts are briefly indicated. (Author/RH)