Sibling Relationships in Families with a Child with Special Needs. A case study of a Norwegian family with a child with Down syndrome and her three siblings.

Abstract

This study aims at exploring sibling relationships in a family which has a child with special needs. Since most previous research studies undertaken on sibling relationships were based either on parental or professionals opinions and perspectives, the sibling relationships were presented primarily from the point of view of outsiders and did not take into consideration the siblings own voice. This study aims at investigating sibling relationships from both insiders (i.e. the child with special needs and the siblings) and outsiders (i.e. the parents) perspectives, hopefully giving a fuller understanding of the various aspects such relationships entail. A multi-methodological research approach was used in this single embedded case study of a family with an 11 year old girl with Down syndrome and her 10, 7 and 5 year old siblings. Both systemic and psychodynamic theories were used in analyzing the research data. A Kinetic Family Drawing projective method was conducted with the child with Down syndrome and her three siblings and in-depth phenomenological interviews were held with the mother and the father of the family. In addition, participant observations in the family s house gave a unique opportunity to capture the siblings and parent-child interactions in an environment which is natural both for the children and for the parents. All methods of research investigation indicated the presence of warm and supportive relationships between the child with Down syndrome and her siblings. The children s kinetic family drawings illustrated that the siblings perceived their sister with Down syndrome to be an active, happy and equal sibling. The data from the father s and mother s interview was consistent with, and supported the findings of K-F-D. The parents described having caring and close relationships between their children who were both with and without special needs. Although the positive findings were dominant in this case study, several challenges became evident. These were mainly related to the social exclusion of the child with Down syndrome by her peers and challenges in balancing parental attention when the child with Down syndrome needed extensive care because of health problems. The parents had, however, developed strategies for solving these difficulties (such as organizing frequent play dates in their own house) that can be relevant for many families with a child with special needs as well. As such this research investigation can contribute to both the understanding of and parental management of sibling relationships where one child has special needs.