장애아동 가족의 역량강화를 위한 부모교육의 방향

Directions for Parent Education for Families with Disabled Children

Families that have children with special needs are under heavy pressure since they face many problems involving psychological problems, and such a heavy stress is likely to result in weakening their function. Both of formal and informal assistance should be provided to relieve their stress and strengthen their function. Special education institutions have provided parent education to parents only so far, not to every member of family. But the 2007 special education law for people with special needs involving the disabled made it possible to offer family support as one of related services, and educational institutions are legally entitled to give more extensive family support. The best model to offer family support is a family empowerment model. According to this model, families are able to be less reliant on specialists when they can take advantage of their own strength and resources available to address their needs. The family empowerment model aims at bolstering family capabilities, and parent education should be conducted in a way to attain the objectives of such a family support model.