Impact of COVID‐19 Pandemic on Children With Intellectual Disabilities and Their Parents: The Perspective of Parents in India.

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic affected children with intellectual disabilities and their parents in numerous ways. This study investigates the impact by analysing the narratives of their parents in the city of Guwahati, located in Assam, a northeastern state of India. The study contributes to th...

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Publicado en:British Journal of Learning Disabilities Vol. 53; no. 3; pp. 405 - 416
Autores principales: Gogoi, Pariz Pikul, Jha, Munmun
Formato: research Journal Article
Publicado: Wiley-Blackwell Sep2025
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Sep2025
      vid: 53
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      pub: Wiley-Blackwell
      place: Malden, Massachusetts
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        atl: Impact of COVID‐19 Pandemic on Children With Intellectual Disabilities and Their Parents: The Perspective of Parents in India.
      aug:
        au:
          Gogoi, Pariz Pikul
          Jha, Munmun
        affil: Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, , India
      sug:
        subj:
          Persons with Intellectual Disabilities In Infancy and Childhood
          Children with Disabilities
          Parental Attitudes
          COVID-19 Pandemic Adverse Effects
          Narratives Evaluation
          Parents of Children with Disabilities Psychosocial Factors
          Parenting
          India
          Human
          Qualitative Studies
          Semi-Structured Interview
          Schools, Special
          Caring
          Accountability
          Child Health Services
          Physical Mobility
          Health Services Accessibility
          Social Skills
          Stress, Psychological Risk Factors
          Financial Stress Risk Factors
          Income
          Access to Information
          Parents Education
          Child
          Child: 6-12 years
      ab: Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic affected children with intellectual disabilities and their parents in numerous ways. This study investigates the impact by analysing the narratives of their parents in the city of Guwahati, located in Assam, a northeastern state of India. The study contributes to the scholarship on intellectual disability in relation to the COVID‐19 pandemic. It suggests the central role of parents and the necessity of empowering them with timely information and disability training, which will help sustain the uninterrupted development of children. Methods: This study employs a qualitative method with semi‐structured interviews. Twelve parents of children with intellectual disabilities from three special schools participated in this study. The questions explored their lived experiences with their children, caregiving responsibilities at home and the challenges they faced due to the disruption of special services during the pandemic. Findings: Four key themes emerged from this study: (1) the pandemic led to the disruptions of special services for children with intellectual disabilities, (2) children's physical mobility was restricted at home, and they could not access regular need‐based therapies or exercise their social skills in special schools, (3) parents suffered psychological stress as they could not fathom how to manage the children at home and (4) parents underwent financial hardships due to their lack of resources and loss of family income during the pandemic. Conclusions: Parents emphasized the need for timely information regarding disability‐related measures to understand and deal with the risks of the pandemic. Some parents tried to engage their children in activities at home. This study recommends the strengthening of disability training for parents to limit the negative psychological effects and issues faced by children with intellectual disabilities. Future research should explore and unravel positive coping mechanisms used by the parents. Summary: This paper is about the experiences of parents with children with intellectual disabilities during the COVID‐19 pandemic.The sudden closure of special schools increased the difficulties in the overall learning process of the children.Easily accessible disability‐related services and information are required for children as well as parents during any health crisis.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype:
        research
        Journal Article
      ougenre: Article
    language: English
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