Parental reports of community activity patterns: a comparison between young children with disabilities and their nondisabled peers.
Preschoolers with disabilities miss community fun because parents feel unsafe, not because the kids can’t move.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Parents filled out a survey about where their preschoolers spend free time.
They listed parks, stores, church, sports, and family outings.
The team compared answers from families of kids with disabilities to families of kids without disabilities.
What they found
Families of children with disabilities joined fewer enrichment activities.
They also felt more afraid in public places.
The gap was biggest for fun family events like festivals or play groups.
How this fits with other research
Woodmansee et al. (2016) saw the same gap in older kids, but only for physical recreation.
Miltenberger et al. (2013) found a twist: accelerometers showed equal movement, yet parents still reported fewer activity types.
Shields et al. (2015) showed child preference predicts participation better than diagnosis.
Together the papers say: kids move just as much, but try fewer kinds of places, mostly because parents fear social trouble.
Why it matters
You can open community doors for families. Ask parents what places feel unsafe. Teach safety skills like asking for help or staying close. Pair families with a peer family the first time they visit a new park or library. One calm trip can replace fear with fun.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Role-play a safety plan with parent and child before their next new outing.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
The extent and nature of community activities of families of children with disabilities in comparison with their nondisabled peers were examined. Parents of 82 children with disabilities and 132 children without disabilities, ages 2 through 5 years, completed a Demographic Questionnaire, Community Activities Questionnaire (CAQ), and Parent Experience Survey (PES). The CAQ assessed frequency of child participation in age-appropriate community activities, and the PES was a retrospective self-evaluation by parents of the experience of introducing the child to common community settings. Both groups of parents reported highly similar experiences when shopping with their children, although parents of children with disabilities reported more fear and risk associated with public settings. Overall, parents of children with disabilities reported participation in fewer community activities than parents of children without disabilities. This difference was largely accounted for by a lower level of participation by families having children with disabilities in a subset of activities that reflect opportunities for family enrichment.
Research in developmental disabilities, 1995 · doi:10.1016/0891-4222(95)00017-h