Growing up with Additional Disabled Child: The Life Story of a Mom

Abstract

The aim of this study, which was carried out according to the life story/narrative research design, which is one of the qualitative research methods, is to examine the life story of a mother living with a child with an additional disability. In this context, a 5-year-old child with deficiencies such as hearing loss, autism and ADHD and his mother were included in the study. The research data consists of semi-structured interviews, observations, and document analysis. The collected data were analyzed with the inductive analysis method. As a result of the analysis, four main themes and ten sub-themes were reached. It was found that the mother had problems in the diagnosis process of the child, in the use of hearing aids, placement in appropriate educational environments, familial support and social support services. Based on these problems, it is necessary to make updates in planning legal regulations and related legislation.