THE SAMPLE

The sample consisted of six groups and 56 individuals.

Participating groups

Group A

This was an inner London group for parents of children with a variety of special needs. Facilitated by ‘Contact a Family’ itself and a project worker, the group’s age was about 21 years. The membership was about 80, although there was a core group of about 20. The group met once a fortnight. Participating in the study took up the first part of a regular fortnightly meeting, held in a local community hall. There were

11 participants, all of whom were women.

Group B

This was an outer London group for parents of children with dyspraxia. The group had existed for about 18 months, and consisted of 20 members, including the founder, with an average attendance of 8-12. The group met once every two months, not in school holidays. Participating in the study took up the last part of a regular group meeting, held in the organiser’s home. There were seven participants, comprising six women and one man.

Chapter Two: Method

Group C

This was a home counties group for parents of children with a variety of special needs. It was set up about 10 years ago, and some founders were still involved although less actively. There were about 170 members in total, comprising both parents and professionals. The group was run by a committee of 13 parents which met once every 4-6 weeks. The group had a newsletter and a ‘chat line’. The group was a registered charity. Participating in the study took up the first part of a

committee meeting, held in one member’s home. There were seven participants, comprising four women and three men.

Group D

This was a home counties group for children with special needs, their siblings and their parents. It was set up two years ago as a toddler group which met once a week. There were also occasional meetings at other times. The founders were actively involved in the committee organising the group, which had 70 families on the mailing list. On average 20 children attended each week. The group had a newsletter.

Parents who were interested in participating in the study completed a questionnaire during the morning they were at the group, held at a local conununity hall. There were 13 participants, all of whom were women.

Group E

This was an outer London group for parents of children with autism and disorders on the autistic spectrum. The group’s age was about 4-5 years, and included the

founders among a membership of about 40. There were meetings once every two weeks, alternating informal ‘chat’ evenings with open meetings to which outside speakers were invited. The group was parent-led, and well supported by

professionals who attended open meetings. The group had a newsletter. Participating in the study took up about a half of a monthly evening open meeting, held at a local community hall. There were 11 participants, all of whom were women.

Group F

This was a home counties group for parents of children with autism. The group was set up 4-5 years ago and was still co-ordinated by its founder. The membership was about 10 parents. The group met once a month during term-time. Participating in the study took up about a half of a regular monthly meeting, held at the organiser’s home. There were seven participants, all of whom were women.

Questionnaires were administered to participants in all six groups, and focus group discussions were held with five out of the six groups. The sixth (Group D) was the only group where children were present, and so a discussion was not possible.

Chapter Two: M ethod

Participating individuals

There were 56 participants from the six groups, consisting of 52 women and four men. Ages ranged from 27 to 58 years, with a mean of 39 years. Forty three participants (77 percent) described their ethnicity as ‘English’, ‘British’ or ‘white’, three (five per cent) as ‘African’, three (five per cent) as ‘Caribbean’ or ‘Afro- Caribbean’, two (four per cent) as ‘Irish’ and one person (two per cent) as

‘American’, with information for the remaining four (seven per cent) missing. Forty three people (77 per cent) described their religion as Christian, eight (14 per cent) as having no religion, and one person (two per cent) as Buddhist, with information for the remaining four (seven per cent) missing. Sixteen participants (29 per cent) described their occupation as ‘housewife’, ‘carer’ or ‘mother’, 15 (27 per cent) were in professional occupations or had partners who were, nine participants (16 per cent) or their partners were in skilled occupations, five participants (nine per cent) or their partners were self-employed, three (five per cent) were students, and three

participants (five per cent) or their partners were in unskilled occupations, with information for the remaining five (nine per cent) missing.

The length of time in which participants had been members of their groups ranged from 0 to 21 years. The mean length of membership was 3.9 years (s.d. = 4.4 years). Participants had between one and eight children, with a mean of 2.5 children. The most common was two children.

The age of children with special needs ranged from one year to 26 years. The mean age was nine years (s.d. = 5.5 years). Participants described the nature and extent of their children’s special needs in a variety of ways. A crude categorisation of

responses showed that 16 participants (29 per cent) had children with specific learning difficulty, dyspraxia, attention deficit disorder or speech delay, 15 (27 per cent) had children with severe or profound mental and/or physical disability, 14 (25 per cent) had children with autism or disorders on the autistic continuum, and six (11 per cent) had children with moderate learning disabilities, with information for the remaining five (nine per cent) missing.