ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the role of advice and parent-to-parent support in the intellectual and development disability (IDD) community. It presents and summarizes themes from a qualitative study of parents of children with Down syndrome (DS). In providing a greater presence of literature on these areas of parenting a child with IDD, additional resources for parents may become available and societal views of this population may shift to become more positive and affirming. Professionals make practical and effective use of this literature to help support parents who are raising a child with IDD in multiple ways that are not dominated by professional opinion alone; but rather, with professional opinion that utilizes the voices of parents who have actually experienced raising a child with IDD. Finally, policy makers benefit from literature in this area, because it sheds light on the kinds of resources and support families who have a child with a disability might need.
