cubby
July 2nd, 2009 Catherine Matheson [*] NAVAJO FAMILIES WHO HAVE CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES In the United States, many have come to believe that families and family involvement are the most important factors in supporting children with disabilities. Families exist within an ecocultural environment that is complex and powerful, and it is within the family context that development in all its forms begins and is nurtured. We cannot understand what family involvement means without understanding the culture of families and the informal systems that families use to adapt and operate. In this chapter, the example of Navajo families with children with disabilities underscores and shows in high relief the heavy reliance on cultural support for families that is part of any family system. As early-intervention and family support programs continue to grow in the United States, we need to understand and sustain those benefits of indigenous systems that provide support and relief to families even as we seek to engage families in the use of supports that may be offered by private and public agencies. Two complementary systems operate to fulfill the needs of Navajo and other American families who have children with disabilities: one is the indigenous adaptive system and the other is the public health system that has been established nationally in the United States with local options. One example is the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 1997), parts B and C, providing early intervention, preschool, and school-age services. The indigenous system was in existence long before the IDEA, but has not been recognized as such. Both systems attempt to increase the well-being of families, but because all adaptive systems have a cost, neither system is totally benign. Each system extracts some payment for the benefits it provides. When discussing costs, our intent is not so much to point out financial costs, which are often involved, but to show that costs to families can be more subtle, such as the erosion of family responsibility and satisfaction with the efforts the family makes on behalf of the child with a disability. Thus, in the Navajo sample, families identified medical disabilities and sought help for medical problems from professionals but were sometimes unable to resolve their anxiety until they involved spiritual services or indigenous healing practices. Conversely, Navajo families did not identify learning disorders in the preschool age group that we interviewed. Learning and language disabilities were primarily identified by professionals and schools, who in turn sometimes found families apprehensive and reluctant to adopt an active role in early-intervention efforts that they had not sought themselves.
Best Eccentric Family Movie: “Holes” Best Traditional Family Movie: “Piglets Big Movie” Most Disappointing Family Movie: “What a Girl Wants”