First published in 1985, this book considers the financial consequences of parents and other relatives caring for severely disabled children at home. At the time of publication little reliable information was available on the costs incurred by informal carers, which this book set to rectify.

The volume interweaves hard statistical material about money with the detailed personal responses of parents. It examines the claim that disablement in a child reduces parents earnings while simultaneously creating an extra expense. The author compares the incomes and expenditure patterns of...

First published in 1990, this book was the first informed study to focus on care within the voluntary sector. Written with the child in mind, it is a sensitive work which explores the administration, strategy, and problems facing carers in children s homes, at that time.

Centring on small, community-based facilities, the authors discuss the processes involved in setting up and running such facilities. They examine the difficulties of evaluating progressive services that are influenced by the philosophy of normalisation, and highlight the lessons from which other providers of...

First published in 1986, this study explores the increased public concern with policies of community care and their effects on informal carers, at that time. It looks at the widespread evidence that one particular group of informal carers- parents looking after their severely disabled child- lack information, advice and a co-ordinated pattern of supporting services. The author, who carried out research on disabled children and their families for a number of years, describes in detail a low-cost experimental project in which specialist social workers set out to remedy these shortcomings....

First published in 1989, this book is about integrating or mainstreaming policies, looking specifically at how to improve circumstances for schoolchildren with disabilities or handicaps, and their teachers.

The author draws on her experiences, both within and outside the academic institution, to conceptualise and theorise policy, so as to place this policy in a political framework and locate it in a wider model of social life. This model is then used to disentangle the nature and effects of policy practices surrounding integration and mainstreaming, looking at practice in various...

First published in 1973, this book considers the differences between mainstream schools and special educational needs schools, for children with learning disabilities. It contains a wealth of research data, case history material and reference to existing literature, designed to answer many questions which parents, heads, and schoolteachers have asked. Questions considered include whether children with disabilities do as well in ordinary schools as children without, whether they are as happy and well adjusted, and how they fit into the social structure of the class. The book also looks at...

First published in 1977, this book focuses on the disability of spina bifida in children. Children with the condition frequently suffer with severe physical handicaps such as lower limb paralysis and incontinence, as well as intellectual impairment. It can be difficult for the families of these multiply handicapped children and they often require the help of professionals from many disciplines. In this book, the authors focus on practical suggestions for alleviating many of the problems brought about by the condition. Their suggestions are designed to help parents, as well as...

First published in 1987, this book focuses on childhood disability within the family. It examines the very nature of disability itself, as well as many of the fundamental elements of families. The book was written at a time when the meaning level of disability and its effect on family and society were rapidly changing and people with disabilities were starting to benefit from opportunities to compensate for whatever disabilities they may have had. Modern technology and an affluent society afforded advantages to support many of its disabled members.

Contributors examine the...