Needs and Supports Reported by Latino Families of Young Children With Developmental Disabilities

Abstract

We interviewed 200 Latino parents (50 Mexican couples, 50 Puerto Rican couples) living in the United States to determine needs and supports related to raising a child with a disability and to identify variables related to reported needs and supports. The pattern of needs expressed was similar to that found in previous studies, but the number was substantially higher. More support was reported from family and formal sources than from friends or informal sources. Using repeated measures of analysis of covariance involving six family variables and three child variables, we found that English language proficiency was the only variable to account for significant variance in needs and supports.