Against the odds: growing up with parents who have learning difficulties

Tim Booth and Wendy Booth

Mental Retardation, 38(1), February, 2000, pp. 1-14.

This article draws on a recently-completed study which set out to explore how people who were brought up in a family headed by a parent or parents with learning difficulties managed the transition to adulthood. Using evidence from in-depth interviews, the authors provide an assessment of how the now-adult children came through what would generally be seen as a risk-filled upbringing.

Despite the problems they encountered in their childhood, many of which originated outside the home, most of the informants had maintained a valued relationship with their family and remained close to their mother.