Strengthening family time: Child abilities and parental support as predictors of participation in children with disabilities.
Teaching kids to do things on their own and keeping parents supportive but not permissive lifts family outings for school-age kids with disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Žic Ralić et al. (2026) asked parents of school-age kids with disabilities to fill out surveys. They wanted to know which child skills and parenting styles predict how often families do fun things together.
The team looked at child independence, social-emotional skills, and problem behavior. They also rated parenting as supportive or permissive.
What they found
Families joined more activities when kids could do things on their own and showed good social-emotional skills. Supportive parenting helped too.
Challenging behavior and permissive parenting dragged participation down.
How this fits with other research
Dyches et al. (2012) meta-analysis already showed positive parenting lifts child outcomes in developmental disabilities. Anamarija’s 2026 survey adds that the same style also gets families out of the house more.
Leung et al. (2011) found higher child independence lowers unmet service needs. Anamarija flips the coin: independence also raises family fun time.
Feng et al. (2025) ran a 12-week RCT and proved that family-school partnership in adapted PE boosts adaptive skills. Anamarija’s results echo this at home: supportive parenting predicts more outings, even without a formal program.
Fujiura et al. (2018) surveyed only high-functioning kids with autism and saw lower home participation. Anamarija widens the lens to mixed disabilities and shows the fix is in the skills-plus-support recipe, not the label.
Why it matters
You can raise family participation in two clicks: teach the child daily-living and social-emotional skills, and coach parents to stay warm but firm. Skip permissive parenting—set clear expectations and praise independence. Use your session time to practice dressing, turn-taking, or ordering food, then send parents a short script to repeat at the park or restaurant.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Family activities foster emotional bonds, shared values, and the well-being of all members. Children with disabilities are generally less involved in family activities, with greater participation at home than in community settings. However, little is known about the predictors of their participation, particularly the roles of independence, challenging behavior, and social-emotional competencies. METHOD: In this study, parents of children with disabilities of primary school age (N = 315) completed surveys on family activities, their own parental behaviors, and their child's social and emotional competencies, independence, and frequency of challenging behaviors. RESULTS: Children's independence and social-emotional competencies, together with parental support, emerged as positive predictors of family activities (family time, mealtime and household tasks, and socializing with others). In contrast, challenging behaviors reduced participation in socializing, while parental permissiveness reduced participation in mealtime and household tasks. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that both child characteristics and parental behaviors can enhance or hinder participation in family activities, providing insights for targeted interventions to improve family life for children with disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2026 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2026.105252