title: Psycho-social achievement in the latency-aged child with spina bifida within the family structure.
abstract: This project aims: 1) to appraise the psycho-social development of a sample of latency-aged spina bifida children upon entry to school; 2) to learn about the social influences that promote or impede the child's development, and 3) to identify ways that psycho-social intervention can be useful to families in which there is a congenitally disabled child. A longitudinal, observational case study was conducted over a six month period. This approach provided information on the impact of social influences, disability, and trauma on the child's development. The results indicate that a delay in reaching the important physical milestones of independent locomotion and continence hinders the achievement of standard psycho-social developmental goals; it does not exclude their achievement. By the sixth month in first grade, all of the children had adapted satisfactorily to school. Thus, the difference between the able-bodied and the spina bifida child was not one of kind, but one of degree. Spina bifida was found to put no ceiling on the child's psycho-social development.
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001828:Body Image; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D006233:Persons with Disabilities / Q000523:psychology; D004519:Education, Special; D004532:Ego; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007207:Individuation; D008297:Male; D008591:Meningomyelocele / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment