Family Interactions

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Chapter 2

• Family Interactions

2
Framing Questions

• What are the subsystems within a family and how
  does a childs exceptionality influence them?
• How can family-professional partnerships enable
  marital, parental, sibling, and extended family
  subsystems to be more successful?
• How can teachers increase the likelihood that
  families will have balanced levels of cohesion
  and adaptability?

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Assumptions of Family Systems Theory
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Assumptions ofFamily Systems Theory

• The best way of understanding family interactions
  is to view the family as a system.
• Input/Output Inputs come into the family, the
  family interacts with and responds to the inputs.
  As a result, the family creates specific outputs
  in carrying out their family functions.

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Assumptions of Family Systems Theory

• Boundaries
• Boundaries exist between family subsystems
  resulting from the interaction of family members
  with each other and from the family unit in its
  interactions with outside influences
• Boundaries within a family
• define members roles across
• four subsystems
• Families vary in the degree to which their
  boundaries are open or closed to nonmembers
  (including educators).

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Assumptions of Family Systems Theory

• Wholeness/Subsystems
• A family system must be understood as a whole
  entity
• it cannot be understood by examining only its
  component parts or by understanding only one of
  its members.
• Families consist of subsystems Marital,
  parental, sibling, and extended.
• A child with a disability may have a negative,
  positive, or mixed impact on each subsystem.

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Family Subsystems

• Marital Interactions between husband and wife
  or same-sex partners.
• Parental Interactions among parents and their
  children.
• Sibling Interactions among the children in a
  family.
• Extended Family Interactions among members of
  the nuclear family, relatives, and others who are
  regarded as relatives.

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Marital Subsystem

• The presence of a child with a disability may
  have a positive, negative, or neutral impact on
  the marital system.
• It is important to remember that while a child
  with a disability may influence the marital
  relationship, other cultural characteristics also
  constitute inputs into the subsystem.

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Parental Subsystem

• Parental subsystems are configured in different
  ways, with each member of the parental unit
  having different strengths and needs
• Foster parents
• Adoptive parents
• Gay or lesbian parents
• Fathers
• Mothers
• Teenage mothers and fathers

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Sibling Subsystem

• The presence of a child with a disability may
  have a positive, negative or neutral impact on
  the sibling system
• Positive and negative reactions often occur
  simultaneously with impact depending on
  individual and family characteristics (e.g., size
  of the family, birth order, gender, nature of the
  exceptionality, and coping styles).

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Sibling Subsystem

• Ways in which persons may benefit from having a
  sibling with a disability
• Enhanced maturity
• Self-esteem
• Social competence
• Insight
• Tolerance
• Pride
• Vocational opportunities
• Advocacy and loyalty

• Potential negative experiences related to having
  a sibling with a disability
• Embarrassment
• Guilt
• Isolation
• Resentment
• Increased Responsibility
• Pressure to Achieve

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Extended Family Subsystem

• Assistance from and relationships with
  grandparents and other extended family members
• Increasingly, grandparents are assuming the
  parenting role for their grandchildren, occurring
  most frequently in African American and Latino
  families.

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Rules of InteractionCohesion and Adaptability

• The degrees of cohesion and adaptability in a
  family describe
• The ways that members of family subsystems
  interact
• The nature of the boundaries among family
  subsystems and among family members and
  non-members.

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Cohesion

• Family cohesion refers to the close emotional
  bonding with each other and to the level of
  independence they feel within the family system
• Cohesion exists across a continuum
  ?----------------------------------------?
  high disengagement
  high enmeshment
• Most families operate in the center of the
  cohesion continuum

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Cohesion

• Outcomes for families who are highly enmeshed
• Blurring of family subsystems, roles, and
  responsibilities
• Excessive interaction
• Overinvolvement in the lives of family members.

• Outcomes for families who are highly disengaged
• Limited interaction
• Limited emotional support and friendships
• Underinvolvement in the lives of family members.

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Adaptability

• Family adaptability refers
• to the familys ability to
• change in response to situational and
  developmental stress.
• Adaptability exists across a continuum
  ?-----------------------------------------?
  High control structure Low
  control structure
• Well functioning families typically strike a
  balance in the middle.

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Adaptability

• Indicators of families who are highly controlled
  and structured
• Strictly enforced rules
• Hierarchy of authority and power
• Negotiating authority and roles is rare and may
  be intolerable.

• Indicators of families who have minimal control
  and structure
• Few rules present in the family
• Rules are seldom enforced and may continually
  change
• Promises and commitments are often unkept
• Roles are undefined and often changing.

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Discussion

• What are the subsystems within a family and how
  does a childs exceptionality influence them?
• How can family-professional partnerships enable
  marital, parental, sibling, and extended family
  subsystems to be more successful?
• How can teachers increase the likelihood that
  families will have balanced levels of cohesion
  and adaptability?