ABSTRACT
Recent research by SCOPE has examined the experiences of a number of parents whose children were diagnosed very early in their young lives. Readers are encouraged to study a copy for full details of this research, which demonstrates the response by parents to professionals according to the factual content, timing and attitudinal approach of the disclosure. There is an endless list of labels and descriptors for the different types of special need that any teacher, psychologist or Loudoun Educational Association (LEA) officer may encounter. Many psychologists now accept that a parent of a handicapped child needs to grieve, just as if a loved one had died; but the day-to-day reality of coping with the child means that this grieving process is severely curtailed. Even teachers have been known to compound the problem of child and parent peer group relationships, by indicating which children may be suitable playmates for each other, either indirectly or overtly.
