Author: Edward Goldson, MD
Source: Infants and Young Children, Volume 13(4), April 2001
Through a selective review of the literature, this article provides an overview of what we know about maltreatment of children with disabilities.
Some important findings include:
* Children with disabilities are at approximately 2-3 times higher the risk for being abused (physically, sexually,and psychologically) and neglected (physically and psychologically) by their caregivers.
* Maltreatment more commonly occurs in the presence of other family stressors, low birthweight and/or behavior disorders in the child,lower socioeconomic status of the family, unmarried parents, unstable employment, and parents with a history of mental illness.
* Of interest, several studies demonstrated that children with more severe disabilities were less likely to be maltreated than those with a "lesser degree of handicap"
* Children with communication disorders were at a higher risk for sexual and physical abuse.
In this article, the author provides an overview of maltreatment, the incidence of its occurrence in this population, a summary of risk factors that contribute to maltreatment of children with disabilities, and recommendations on ways to reduce the occurrence of this most horrible condition.
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