Impact of parents' involvement and engagement in a learning readiness programme for children with severe and profound intellectual disability and complex needs in India.

Cognitive, social, motor and language skills are key factors that contribute to the quality of life for people with learning disabilities and for their carers. Development of these skills for children with severe learning disabilities who have other complex needs however remains a challenge. A pilot study was undertaken by the staff from The Jai Vakeel School for Children in Need of Special Care, Mumbai, with a view to examining the effects of training offered by parents of children with severe learning disabilities and complex needs on their emotional, social, language, cognitive and motor skill development. Using a Parental Involvement/Engagement Scale it was seen that children with lower parental involvement had less improvement in the above areas whilst children with higher parental involvement showed greater improvement. The findings are discussed in relation to the hypothesis that the pre-clinical condition of the child will affect the outcome of therapy.