SITUATION ANALYSIS
Parents expressed the need for a strong belief in the child and in the child’s future, in maintaining an optimistic outlook along with a realistic view and acceptance of the situation. They evinced their resilience from the holistic perspective “the importance of looking holistically at the child as part of the family, not as a separate entity,” was noted by some parents. Furthermore, parents emphasized the idea of accepting the child, who “has then right to live like our other children,” analyzing the situation in an objective way, and trying to obtain practical and efficient solutions. Parents who participated in the current study were all at that stage when they have already accepted the full meaning and implications of the child’s disability and had adapted themselves to it. Having achieved this realistic approach to such disability, they were able to function well, or at least adequately, within the family system (Blacher, 1984). According to Smith (2002) parents of children with disabilities experience greater stress and a larger number of care giving challenges, such as health problems, greater feelings of restriction, and higher levels of parental depression than parents of children without disabilities. Moreover, some families with the same case, experience difficulties in financial assistance and inadequate support from the members of the family and communities. Families of children with special needs face both the normal pressures and tensions