Parental responses to their developmentally delayed children and the South Glamorgan Home Advisory Service.

This study was undertaken to investigate how parents who have a child with some degree of handicap describe their child's behaviour and their own feelings and adjustment to having such a child. Their response was compared with that of parents of age-matched children without any known development difficulties. The parents and children were grouped according to the manifested handicap of the child (Down's syndrome, developmental quotient (DQ) greater than 65, DQ less tha 65 with/without limb dysfunction and normal controls). The children's ages ranged from 4 to 126 months and they all had received the South Glamorgan Home Advisory Service (HAS) at some time. Sixty-one families completed attitude and behaviour rating scales and parents were asked to express their preferences for prescribed services. The attitude and rating scales were also completed by twenty-five control families with normal children. A consistent trend was revealed towards increasingly favourable attitudes and feelings from past to future, and the DQ less than 65, with/without limb dysfunction, group was found to require further investigation in terms of provision of appropriate services. A distinct preference was shown for the South Glamorgan Home Advisory Service.