Challenging behavior (CB) is a common occurrence in early childhood and frequently occurs in young children with disabilities. CB is also culturally perceived and includes differences in how caregivers understand and define the topography of CB. Despite the cultural interpretation, CB is known to impact the child and their family but there has been little exploration of what marginalized caregivers perceive as the impact of the CB that their young children with disabilities exhibit. We used semi-structured interviews to explore the perceptions of 24 caregivers, who identified as Black, Mexican American, and White, about the impact of their child’s CB. Caregivers shared how the CB impacted themselves, their families, their child, and others. Although much of the impact was similar among caregivers, we discuss nuanced differences across ethnic groups.
ArimR. G.GarnerR. E.BrehautJ. C.LachL. M.MackenzieM. J.RosenbaumP. L.KohenD. E. (2012). Contextual influences of parenting behaviors for children with neurodevelopmental disorders: Results from a Canadian national survey. Disability and Rehabilitation, 34(26), 2222–2233. https://doi.org/10.3109/09638288.2012.680650
2.
BerlinerS.MoskowitzL.BraconnierM.ChaplinW. (2020). The role of parental attributions and discipline in predicting child problem behavior in preschoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 32, 695–717. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09715-y
3.
BissonnetteJ. D. (2016). The trouble with niceness: How a preference for pleasantry sabotages culturally responsive teacher preparation. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 12(2), 9–32.
4.
BrantlingerE.JimenezR.KlingnerJ.PugachM.RichardsonV. (2005). Qualitative studies in special education. Exceptional Children, 71(2), 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290507100205
5.
BronfenbrennerU.CeciS. J. (1994). Nature-nurture reconceptualized: A bioecological model. Psychological Review, 101, 568–586.
6.
BronfenbrennerU.MorrisP. A. (2006). The bioecological model of human development. In LernerR. M.DamonW. (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Theoretical models of human development (pp. 793–828). Wiley.
7.
BurkeM. M.HodappR. M. (2014). Relating stress of mothers of children with developmental disabilities to family-school partnerships. Intellectual Developmental Disabilities, 52(1), 13–23. https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556-52.1.13
8.
ChaiZ.Lieberman-BetzR. (2016). Strategies for helping parents of young children address challenging behaviors in the home. TEACHING Young Exceptional Children, 48(4), 186–194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040059915621754
9.
CheremshynskiC.LucyshynJ. M.OlsonD. L. (2013). Implementation of a culturally appropriate positive behavior support plan with a Japanese mother of a child with autism: An experimental and qualitative analysis. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 15(4), 242–253. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098300712459904
10.
ChungK. M.JungW.YangJ. W.Ben-ItzchakE.ZachorD. A.FurnissF.HeyesK.MatsonJ. L.KozlowskiA. M.BarkerA. A. (2012). Cross cultural differences in challenging behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders: An international examination between Israel, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 6(2), 881–889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2011.03.016
11.
CorbinJ.StraussA. (2008). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. SAGE.
12.
CreswellJ. W. (2012). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. SAGE.
DoubetS.OstroskyM. (2015). The impact of challenging behavior on families: I don’t know what to do. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 34(4), 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121414539019
15.
EmersonE. (2001). Challenging behaviour: Analysis and intervention in people with severe learning disabilities (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511543739
16.
EmersonE.BlacherJ.EinfeldS.HattonC.RobertsonJ.StancliffeR. J. (2014). Environmental risk factors associated with the persistence of conduct difficulties in children with intellectual disabilities and autistic spectrum disorders. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35(12), 3508–3517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.08.039
17.
FoxL.VaughnB. J.WyatteM. L.DunlapG. (2002). “We can’t expect other people to understand”: Family perspectives on problem behavior. Exceptional Children, 68(4), 437–450. https://doi.org/10.1177/001440290206800402
18.
GilliamW. S.MaupinA. N.ReyesC. R.AccavittiM.ShicF. (2016, September28). Do early educators’ implicit biases regarding sex and race relate to behavior expectations and recommendations of preschool expulsions and suspensions?Yale University Child Study Center.
19.
JainS.RenoR.CohenA. K.BasseyH.MasterM. (2019). Building a culturally-responsive, family-driven early childhood system of care: Understanding the needs and strengths of ethnically diverse families of children with social-emotional and behavioral concerns. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 31–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.02.034
20.
KalyanpurM.HarryB. (2012). Cultural reciprocity in special education: Building family-professional relationships. Paul H. Brookes.
21.
KorbutS.HedleyD.ChetcutiL.SahinE.NuskeH. J. (2020). Temperament predicts challenging behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder at age 5. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 71, Article 101492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2019.101492
22.
LeungL. (2015). Validity, reliability, and generalizability in qualitative research. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 4(3), 324–327. https://doi.org/10.4103/2249-4863.161306
23.
Lewis ChiuC.SaymanD.CarreroK. M.GibbonT.ZolkoskiS. M.LuskM. E. (2017). Developing culturally competent preservice teachers. Multicultural Perspectives, 19(1), 47–52. https://doi.org/10.1080.15210960.2017.1267515
24.
LoveH. R.BenekeM. R. (2021). Pursuing justice-driven inclusive education research: Disability critical race theory (DisCrit) in early childhood. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 41(1), 31–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0271121421990833
25.
MeadanH.AdamsN. B.HackerR. E.Ramos-TorresS.FantaA. (2020). Supporting Spanish-speaking families with children with disabilities: Evaluating a training and coaching program. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 32, 489–507. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-019-09704-1
26.
MeekS.SmithL.AllenR.CatherineE.EdyburnK.WilliamsC.FabesR.McIntoshK.GarciaE.TakanishiR.GordonL.Jimenez-CastellanosO.HemmeterM. L.GilliamW.PontierR. (2020). Start with equity: From the early years to the early grades. The Children’s Equity Project. https://childandfamilysuccess.asu.edu/cep
27.
NealyC. E.O’HareL.PowersJ. D.SwickD. C. (2012). The impact of autism spectrum disorders on the family: A qualitative study of mothers’ perspectives. Journal of Family Social Work, 15(3), 187–201. https://doi.org/10.1080/10522158.2012.675624
28.
NeeceC. L.GreenS. A.BakerB. L. (2012). Parenting stress and child behavior problems: A transactional relationship across time. American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 117(1), 48–66. https://doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-117.1.48
29.
OstbergM.HagekullB. (2013). Parenting stress and external stressors as predictors of maternal ratings of child adjustment. Development and Aging, 54(3), 213–221. https://doi.org/10.11/sjop.12045
30.
PearsonJ. N.MeadanH. (2021). FACES: An advocacy interaction for African American parents of children with autism. Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 59(2), 155–171. https://doi.org/10.1352/1934-9556-59.2.155
31.
PoulouM. S. (2015). Emotional and behavioural difficulties in preschool. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 24, 225–236. https://doi.org/10/1007/s10826-013-9828-9
32.
QiC. H.KaiserA. P. (2003). Behavior problems of preschool children from low-income families: Review of the literature. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 23(4), 188–216. https://doi.org/10.1177/02711214030230040201
33.
QuinlanM. B. (2018). The freelisting method. In LiamputtongP. (Ed.), Handbook of research methods in health social sciences (pp. 1–16). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2779-6_12-2
34.
Savin-BadenM.MajorC. H. (2013). Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice. Routledge.
35.
Simó-PinatellaD.Mumbardó-AdamC.Alomar-KurzE.SugaiG.SimonsenB. (2019). Prevalence of challenging behaviors exhibited by children with disabilities: Mapping the literature. Journal of Behavioral Education, 28(3), 323–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-019-09326-9
36.
SleeterC. E. (2012). Confronting the marginalization of culturally responsive pedagogy. Urban Education, 47(3), 562–584. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085911431472
37.
SmithB. J.FoxL. (2003). Systems of service delivery: A synthesis of evidence relevant to young children at risk of or who have challenging behavior. Center for Evidence-Based Practice: Young Children with Challenging Behavior.
WoodmanA. C.MawdsleyH. P.Hauser-CramP. (2015). Parenting stress and child behavior problems within families of children with developmental disabilities: Transactional relations across 15 years. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 36, 264–276. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.10.011
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
