Growing up with parents who have learning difficulties (1998)

Tim Booth and Wendy Booth

Growing up with parents who have learning difficulties challenges us to think again about many taken-for-granted ideas about the process of parenting, the roles of parents, especially disabled parents, and the needs of children. Observing children under pressure reveals the extent of their resilience. Studying parents on the margins of competence provides new insights into the limits of parental adequacy.

Growing up with parents who have learning difficulties uses a life-story approach to present new evidence about how children from such families manage the transition to adulthood, and about the longer-term outcomes of such an upbringing. It offers a view of parental competence as a social attribute rather than an individual skill, assessing the implications for institutional policies and practices. The authors address the notion of children having to parent their disabled parents and argue for a shift in emphasis from protecting children to supporting families.

Growing up with parents who have learning difficulties provides a fresh approach to a subject rife with prejudice. It also demonstrates the power of narrative research and its capacity for bringing alive people's experience in a way that enables us to better understand their lives. The book will be of particular interest to professionals and academics working with people who have learning difficulties.

April 1998

232 pages

ISBN 0 425 16655 1 Hbk

ISBN 0 415 16656 X Pb