Maternal Expectations and Birth Order in Families with Learning Disabled and Normal Children

Abstract

This study examined maternal expectations for male siblings as a function of the presence and birth order of learning disabled children between 8 and 10 years old. In one group, LD-B,, the learning disabled child was a firstborn (B ₁ ) and had a younger brother within three years of his age, and in another group, LD-B ₂ , he was second-born and had an older brother within three years of his age. Two appropriate normal control groups were used. All children were given a Block Design Task (from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), a spelling task (from the Wide Range Achievement Test), and a beanbag task. Mothers had to predict the performance on each task for each of the two children being studied. In general the LD-B ₁ families were found to be under the greatest stress; maternal expectations were more likely to be inconsistent between the two children, with the mother underestimating the first-born learning disabled child's abilities and overestimating the normal second-born. These mothers were characterized as being socially withdrawn and more overprotective toward their children. Mothers in the LD-B ₂ families also had difficulty in expectations for their children but were able to adjust their expectations in a more consistent manner.