




































Microsoft Word - Manuscript 7_12.12.docx


Graduate Student Journal of Psychology (GSJP), Volume 18, Special Issue 2022 

Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability: 
Systematic Review 

Annahita D. Modirrousta, B.A 
Department of Psychology, Miami University 

Yvette R. Harris, Ph.D 
Department of Psychology, Miami University 

Parenting a child of color with a developmental disability presents unique challenges for 
parents. We address those challenges in this review paper as they cohere around three 
major themes: the parental appraisal of their child's disability, social stigma, and lack of 
resources and help for their children. We conclude the review paper with suggestions on 
how researchers, educators, and practitioners might work with parents raising children 
of color with developmental disabilities.  

Keywords: developmental disabilities, parents, children, race, ethnicity 

Raising a Child of Color with a Developmental Disability: Narrative Review 
Developmental disabilities consist of conditions that impair learning, language, physical 
traits, and behavior (Holm, 1989). When it comes to parental experiences raising a child 
with a developmental disability, the literature explains advances in care for these 
children. Parents of children with developmental disabilities have benefited from an 
increase in the number and quality of services for their children. The increased 
awareness and knowledge about developmental disabilities has helped them provide 
better care for their child (Hodapp & Ly, 2006). However, these benefits did not apply to 
children of color, who are non-White children in predominantly White countries 
(Comas-Díaz, 2000). There has been a clear pattern in examining the literature catered to 
parents of children of color with developmental disabilities. Many parents have little 
knowledge about the disability, and as a result, they either fail to detect symptoms or 
assume their child would "grow" out of symptoms. This leads to parents not seeking 
help for their child (Zuckerman et al., 2014). Additionally, these parents fail to receive 
the necessary support from providers due to lack of access (Nasser et al., 2017).  

In examining the existing literature, we found few articles detailing how parents 
experience raising a child of color with a developmental disability. This lack of research 
seems puzzling, given the statistics on children of color with a developmental disability. 
Figure 1 (US Department of Education, 2012) demonstrates the rates of developmental 
disability among different races and ethnicities. Non-White children, except for Asian 
children, have higher rates of learning disability than White children, and Asian 
children have disproportionately high rates of autism and language impairment. 
Considering the high rate of developmental disability for children of color, the lack of 
research and resources regarding the experiences of parents raising children of color 
with developmental disabilities is a concern (Klingner et al., 2007).  

The following review paper on parenting of children of color with developmental 
disabilities is necessary to bridge the gap in how race and ethnicity affect parenting. 
This gap exists because there has been a lack of research and concern on the topic 
(Klingner et al., 2007). Addressing this topic is crucial to help parents of children of 
color with 

© 2022, Graduate Student Journal of Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University. ALL 
RIGHTS RESERVED. Graduate Journal of Psychology 18, pp-pp. 



Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Modirrousta & Harris 

developmental disabilities, who are underrepresented in research, receive the needed 
help. This review paper aims to bring attention to parents' struggles raising children of 
color with developmental disabilities, which would help fill the gap. These parents 
experience stigma, defined by a trait that is viewed as unfavorable and thus are 
discriminated against in society (Ahmedani, 2011). Parents also experience a lack of 
help and resources available to them. In writing this review paper, we wanted to 
highlight parental variables and societal variables that influence the quality of medical 
assistance and treatment provided to children of color with developmental disabilities. 
Using a positivist lens, we will therefore review the literature on different cultures and 
form conclusions on common themes within them. 

Lastly, this paper will refer to "children of color.” Still, we will warn that the research 
on different ethnicities does not generalize to all children of color. Studies were done on 
a small sample, limiting generalizability. This paper also recognizes that adoption and 
interracial marriage might result in children of color who do not have parents of color. 
This paper merely examines multiple cultures to see how they experience a child with 
developmental disabilities. The term "children of color" is used as a blanket term for 
these cultures. We use the words "of color" rather than "minority" to emphasize that the 
children are non-White and are minorities in predominantly White countries. 

Figure 1 
Percentage of 3-21-year-olds serving under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by type 
of disability and race/ethnicity 

Methods 
This paper will examine first-world high-income countries predominantly. The countries 
chosen were the United States, Ireland, and Israel. This is to consider how countries of 
different cultures have different norms for parents of children with developmental 
disabilities. These parents will also be of an ethnic minority; an ethnic minority is 
someone of a race or ethnicity that is the minority in the country in which they reside 
(Vega & Rumbaut, 1991). The ethnicities chosen were Latinos, African Americans, Asian 
Americans, Pakistanis, Filipinos, and Arabs. This is to capture the experience of being a 
minority group in a country that may not respond to their needs as efficiently as a 
majority group's needs (Reichard et al., 2004). The developmental disabilities studied 
include autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID), Down syndrome, 



Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability

and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The children studied were mid to 
high functioning. 

For this narrative review, one of the authors of this manuscript used PsychInfo and 
Google Scholar to find empirical articles related to our topic. We entered five lines of 
related keywords with each word separated by OR (and/or), and we separated each 
line by AND.  

1. Child: child/children OR elementary OR kids
We chose these keywords because we are researching elementary and kindergarten 
children around four to twelve years old. 

2. Developmental disabilities: developmental disorders OR neurodevelopmental disorders
OR autism spectrum disorders OR learning disorders OR intellectual disorder 

We chose these keywords to examine different disabilities. We included 
neurodevelopmental disorders like ASD or ADHD, intellectual disorders like ID, and 
other developmental disorders like Down syndrome. We did not find much literature 
about learning disorders or other developmental disorders, but that would be a future 
research topic. 

3. Race/ethnicity: blacks OR asians OR latino/as OR minority groups
We included different races and ethnicities, such as Black, Asians, and Latinos. We also 
used the blanket term "minority groups" to encompass other minority races and 
ethnicities, such as Pakistanis and Arabs. We did not find much information about 
different ethnicities, leading to future research. 

4. Parenting: parenting styles OR skills OR practices OR attitudes
Considering this paper's topic examines the parenting of children of color with 
developmental disabilities, we searched for articles detailing parental practices. 
5. Parent-child relations: attachment OR father/mother-child relations OR child discipline 
OR child-rearing practices OR parental involvement
We examined how parents raise their children and the relations between parents and 
their children. This is crucial because learning how parents discipline and involve 
themselves in their children's development can help understand how parents 
experience having a child with a developmental disability.

From these keywords, we found 17 articles. We initially read the abstracts and picked 
the studies that best suited our paper. Then, we read the full papers and used those 
studies' results in our review. We examined citations for each article based on their 
relevance to our paper and used new sources for this review, resulting in 45 articles 
and one figure. Our inclusion criteria were studies that depicted parental involvement 
in raising children of color with a developmental disability. The children had to be a 
racial or ethnic minority in their country. We excluded studies of children with 
comorbid disorders and families who are the ethnic majority in their country (e.g., 
Indian families in India). 

These articles revealed three themes regarding how parents experience raising a child 
of color with a developmental disability. By reading through the literature, it became 
evident that there were patterns of experiences across different cultures. The papers 
used in this study revealed many similarities in the parental raising of children of color 
with developmental disabilities, which fit into three themes. These themes are the way 

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 



Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Modirrousta & Harris 

parents appraise their child's disability, the social stigma parents experience, and the 
lack of resources and help available for parents and their child.  

Parental Appraisal of Disability 
Although there are differences in how various ethnic groups appraise disability, there 
are some core similarities. For example, Latino parents expect their child to reach 
developmental milestones such as recognizing faces and smiling later than other 
parents. Due to this, they may fail to notice signs of a developmental disability and do 
not get help until much later. Different milestones are expected for their child with 
developmental disabilities due to underlying cultural beliefs and child-rearing practices 
(Pachter & Dworkin, 1997). Latino, African American, and Asian parents are also more 
likely to attribute their child's symptoms to emotion or personality factors rather than 
disability and refuse to accept biological explanations for mental illness; this keeps 
parents from seeking help (Yeh et al., 2004). 

Some parents tend to attribute symptoms of disability to their unique child-rearing 
strategies. Instead of understanding the cause of developmental disability, they believe 
the way they raise their children affects how they express these symptoms, rather than 
the disability itself. Specific appraisals can lead to parents not trusting doctors and 
taking responsibility for their child's disability due to cultural norms. Zuckerman et al. 
(2014) found that Latino parents who watched vignettes of a parent and her child with 
ASD attributed the child's symptoms to family issues and poor relationships among 
family members instead of ASD. These parents believed that they could fix their child's 
problems through improving family interactions and only supported going to the 
doctor to seek family therapy resources rather than a diagnosis. As a result, parents 
concluded this might delay the child's diagnosis and treatment, which would keep the 
child from getting adequate help as soon as possible. Furthermore, Nasser et al. (2017) 
found that Palestinian families in Israel with a child with intellectual disability (ID) 
viewed their child's diagnosis as evidence of abandonment and parental failure. They 
believed they had done something wrong as parents, causing their child to develop ID.  

Additionally, some parents of children of color with developmental disabilities believe 
that their child will eventually grow out of their symptoms. Consequently, these parents 
are less likely to obtain a diagnosis and reject the doctors' assessment. This results in the 
child not getting the needed diagnosis to help the child. In Zuckerman et al. (2014, p. x), 
Latino parents determined that the child was exhibiting "bad toddler behavior" and 
would grow out of his problems. In contrast, other parents believed this was normal 
behavior of a child without siblings. This resulted in parents dismissing the 
pediatrician's advice and assuming that their child just needed more space and time. 
Also, Nasser et al. (2017) found that the parents resisted treatment initially and believed 
it was their role, not the doctor's, to treat their child with ID. Also, they believed that 
their child would improve and integrate into family life despite evidence to the 
contrary. Finally, Schuman (2000) revealed that Mexican parents with a child with a 
developmental disability brought their child to a healthcare provider for assessment. 
Still, parents often dismissed providers' input while having concerns that providers 
found irrelevant. Mexican parents identified behavioral issues and speech and language 
delays in their child and worried about the long-term effects of the "illness." However, 
while they detailed signs of developmental delay in their child, they did not fully 
believe there was something wrong with the child until later in development when 
changes were noticeable. 



Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability

For some Latino families, parents begin with very little knowledge about developmental 
disabilities. However, they would learn about developmental disability over time and 
become more knowledgeable about their child's disability. Zuckerman et al. (2014) 
found that Latino parents had low knowledge about autism, and it was even lower in 
parents who only spoke Spanish. Many parents did not know what the word "autism" 
even meant. 

At the start of their discovery of their child's disability, parents felt ashamed of their 
child's symptoms or felt strain, anger, and frustration towards their child. A study 
showed that Mexican parents who watched vignettes of children with autism felt 
embarrassed of their autism symptoms (Zuckerman et al., 2014). These parents felt that 
ASD was shameful, worried about facing rejection from society for having a child with 
ASD, and believed the child would place an unpleasant burden on family members. 
Finally, Kim et al. (2020) showed that for parents of African American children with 
autism, the higher the family resilience, which is strength against adversity, the lower 
the parenting stress. This means that African American parents of children with ASD 
who had lower resilience experienced more stress and strain due to their child's 
symptoms. 

Some parents immediately took responsibility for their children's development and 
even quit their jobs or lived alone to take care of their children. In Burkett et al. (2017), 
African American parents of children with ASD showed a core theme of responsibility. 
These parents believed that respect was an essential learned skill, and they thought it 
was their responsibility to teach respect to their children. They believed this would 
cause their children to develop manners and not engage in their symptoms. The single 
mothers in the study lived alone with their children due to their personal experience of 
having single mothers. The responsibility of parenting their children with autism 
increased their sense of isolation. They believed this was the best way to raise their 
children and take responsibility. These mothers watched over their children and 
monitored their children's progress to prepare them to grow into independent adults. 
Meanwhile, two-parent African American families expressed that they shared the 
responsibility for their children's care. They depended on each other to help the 
children and felt sincere appreciation for the other parent. Thus, parents put the 
responsibility of raising their child of color with a developmental disability on 
themselves, which led to the belief that it was their role to treat their child rather than 
seek help. 

Some parents of children of color with developmental disabilities learn to be optimistic 
about their child's disability by using spirituality, faith, and religion. In Habib et al. 
(2017), some Pakistani mothers with a child with ASD reported that they were satisfied 
with their situation and had a positive experience raising their child in Ireland. Also, the 
mothers' religious beliefs were an essential protective factor for them, as they could use 
religion as a coping mechanism. A protective factor is defined as a trait or circumstance 
that allows parents to cope with their mental health and their child's condition. They 
also viewed their child's disability as God's will. Lastly, for African American parents of 
children with ASD, a significant theme in their experience was their faith in God. They 
expressed they were blessed to care for their child with ASD, with many saying it led to 
personal and spiritual growth. Although these parents did not regularly attend church, 
they believed they were connected spiritually to God. This connection was essential for 
their personal development, coping with stress, and maintaining hopefulness (Burkett 
et al., 2017). As a result, religion helped African American families handle the diagnosis 
better. Research shows that African American mothers cope better than White mothers 
with their child's diagnosis of ASD; they have higher well-being, fewer burdens, and 

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 



Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Modirrousta & Harris 

lower negative impact (Bishop et al., 2007). While negative impact increased as their 
child grew into adolescence, the negative impact was significantly lower for African 
American mothers than White mothers. This was partly due to the African American 
culture of kinship and spirituality (Carr & Lord, 2013). 

Stigma and Social Reaction 
Stigma and social reaction are also influential. The response of society to a child with a 
developmental disability constitutes stigma when it is negative. When children with 
developmental disabilities are stigmatized, this can harm their development, decrease 
social support, and cast guilt and shame on parents (Werner & Shulman, 2013). As an 
illustration, African American parents of children with ASD faced stigma with regards 
to their child's diagnosis. They described how they were often judged in public and 
blamed for their child's behavior. Some mothers were told they lacked "knowing how 
to discipline their child" (Burkett et al., 2017, p. x). Asian American parents also feared 
being stigmatized for their child's symptoms by their community. Due to fear of being 
shunned or judged by their community, Asian American parents isolated themselves 
and kept their child's diagnosis a secret (He, 2017). This isolation and discrimination led 
to fewer social supports for their child and worsened psychological disorders for the 
parents. Due to the parents' mental health problems, they were less likely to seek help 
for their child (Jegatheesan, 2009). Shame and stigma can also lead to parents 
underreporting their child's diagnosis and delayed intervention (Leong et al., 2013). 
Filipino American parents of children with ASD negatively perceived their child's 
disability due to societal discrimination, which kept them from seeking help for their 
child (Anzaldo, 2021). 

In some cultures, societal stigma can result in high-stress levels for parents of children 
with developmental disabilities. In Arab culture, having a family member with a 
developmental disability could decrease social status and hinder chances of marriage 
(Dababnah & Parish, 2013). As a result, Arab parents of children with ASD felt shame 
and guilt at their child's symptoms. Due to this shame, these parents only sought 
treatment as a last resort (Dardas & Simmons, 2015). 

These children may also receive adverse reactions from family members. For African 
American parents, their family members or friends believed that their child's behavior 
was their fault. Single African American mothers would heavily rely on their mothers 
and other family members to care for the child. When they received unhelpful 
feedback, the mothers experienced guilt and shame, which kept them from giving their 
child the best care (Burkett et al., 2017). In Pakistani families, some mothers of a child 
with ASD explained that due to increased awareness of ASD in Pakistan, they could 
speak with their family about this issue. It helped with their interactions with their 
family members. However, some mothers said their family members lacked knowledge 
about ASD and that an increase in knowledge could help meet their child's needs with 
ASD (Habib et al., 2017). Lack of access to education and resources can heighten this 
stigma, which we will address in the next segment.  

Lack of Resources and Assistance from Providers 
Many children of color in the United States experience higher poverty rates than their 
White counterparts. According to Costello et al. (2001), in North Carolina, 52% of 
African American families lived below federal poverty, compared to 18.2% of White 
families. African American families' mean income was 62% that of White families. Also, 
African American and Hispanic children are overrepresented in low-income families 
(Cooper et al., 2010). The 2007-2011 American Community Survey (Macartney et al., 



Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability

2013) found that 25.8% of African Americans and 23.2% of Latinos lived in poverty 
compared to 11.6% of Whites. Poverty also affects ethnic minorities in other countries; 
one-third of Palestinian minorities in Israel live in poverty (Hilal, 2012). This 
discrepancy in wealth results in fewer resources available to the parents.  

A lack of resources also reduces the urgency of a diagnosis. African American children 
were 30.0% less likely to be diagnosed than White children (Baio, 2014). Latinos were 
half as likely to get diagnosed as non-Latinos and more likely to have severe symptoms. 
This is because African American, Latino, and low-income children had decreased 
access to services that would allow them to get a diagnosis. They lacked proper 
insurance, money, and access to a provider nearby, which made treatment more 
difficult (Liptak et al., 2008). African American children received their diagnosis 1.6 
years after White children and took more time in care before getting diagnosed; Latino 
children received their diagnosis 2.5 years later than White children (Mandell et al., 
2002). Overall, African American, Hispanic, or other minority race children were less 
likely than White children to be documented with ASD.  However, despite the lower 
rate of diagnosis, minority and low-income children were more likely to exhibit 
symptoms of a developmental disorder than high-income and White children (Mandell 
et al., 2009).  Palestinian parents living in Israel also had a hard time getting treatment 
for their child with ID due to low socioeconomic status (SES) and social status in Israel 
(Nasser et al., 2017). Low socioeconomic status, defined as living in poverty, is 
associated with early life stress and delays in development and lead to the inability to 
afford services and treatment (Farah et al., 2006). Also, there were few culturally 
competent services within their community, and there were few resources for their 
children. Children with ID of Palestinian parents in Israel especially struggled with high 
disability rates, extreme inequality, and high personal and family stress (Nasser et al., 
2017).  

Another issue that parents faced was that their children received less help from 
providers than White children. Zuckerman et al. (2014) found that Latino parents with a 
child with ASD felt uncomfortable interacting with doctors because they thought the 
doctors made them feel unsafe. Therefore, they would not be forthcoming with their 
concerns or would deny issues. Guerrero et al. (2011) also found that parents of 
minority children were less likely to be helped by a healthcare provider. Specifically, 
African American and Latino parents were significantly less likely to have their 
concerns validated by a healthcare provider than White parents. Low-income parents 
also experienced this phenomenon, which brings up the intersection between race and 
SES. Also, Son et al. (2020) found that Latino children with developmental disabilities 
such as ASD whose parents received passive or reassuring responses from their 
providers, such as dismissing any doubts or not providing information about a 
diagnosis or referrals, were less likely to receive specialty services than White children. 
In this instance, specialty services are defined as specialty treatments geared towards 
developmental disabilities to help people with these conditions. This meant that when 
parents were passively rather than actively treated by providers, their children did not 
receive the proper service. Latino parents reported fewer specialty services for their 
child than White parents due to access, communication, or cultural barriers to ASD care 
for Latino children.  

Parents of these children receive few resources or access to medical care due to low SES 
and their language background. For example, Latino parents of children with ASD 
struggled to obtain resources to help with their child's disability. This happened 
because of the lack of adequate Spanish resources or difficulty understanding English 
resources due to poor interpreters (Zuckerman et al., 2014). Parents felt that the 
information 

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 



Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Modirrousta & Harris 

available to them about ASD was low quality because there were no Spanish materials 
available. The English material was written in jargon, and the available material was 
written in incorrect Spanish. Interpreters were unavailable or poorly trained and were 
therefore of little help to the parents. Due to low levels of information and the high 
stigma of autism (as mentioned in the first two sections), parents normalized their 
child's behavior. They denied any problems, which led to hesitation to get treatment for 
their child. Due to poverty, low English proficiency, and lack of empowerment to get 
services, these parents had poor care access. Providers would dismiss concerns, and the 
diagnostic process was uncomfortable for the child (Zuckerman et al., 2014). 

Many children of color with developmental disabilities struggle with receiving care 
services of high quality and access to specialty services. Magaña et al. (2016) found that 
Latino children were less likely to receive specialty services than White children for 
their developmental disabilities. The types of specialty services include behavioral 
intervention, occupational therapy, social skills training, and sensory integration 
therapy. The National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (Liptak et al., 
2008) showed that Latino parents had a bad relationship with providers compared to 
White parents, such as feeling unwelcome, not spending much time with their child, 
and low cultural sensitivity. An example of feeling unwelcome includes not feeling like 
a partner to the provider and feeling like the provider did not listen to parental 
concerns. This led to fewer services for their child with ASD (Parish et al., 2012). 
Providers struggled with recognizing ASD symptoms in Latino children, viewed Latino 
parents as less knowledgeable about ASD, and did not refer children to specialists 
(Zuckerman et al., 2013). Latino parents struggled with dealing with the diagnosis, 
stigma, and using services (Blanche et al., 2015). When providers offered a passive or 
reassuring response, Latino parents used fewer services for their children with a 
developmental disability 
(Gannotti et al., 2004). 

Asian American parents of children with developmental disabilities also struggled with 
communicating with providers. This is due to the use of complex language, stereotypes 
about Asian culture, providers' negative views of alternative medicine, focusing on the 
child's weaknesses rather than strengths, and providers' bluntness contrasting with 
parents' hesitancy (Jegatheesan, 2009). Meanwhile, African American parents of 
children with ASD felt that providers were rude and acted "like they knew everything," 
which soured their relationship. They also felt that providers did not listen and 
disregarded parents' concerns (Burkett et al., 2015). 

Lastly, these parents struggled to receive assistance from their child's school. Habib et 
al.'s (2017) study showed that some Pakistani mothers complained about the lack of 
resources at schools, the lack of measures including children with ASD in classrooms, 
the lack of ASD-specific training for teachers, and the poor communication between 
education and health services. However, other mothers in the study had positive 
experiences of schools, communicated effectively with schools and healthcare providers, 
and believed in the positive impact of parenting a child with ASD.  

Conclusion and Suggestions for Future Directions  

In summary, we identified three major themes in this review paper regarding parents' 
experiences raising children of color with developmental disabilities. First, parents 
appraise and react to their child's disability differently. Second, parents face stigma 
from society and family members due to their child's developmental disability. Third, 
parents struggle with finding proper resources and assistance from providers and 
schools. These three themes merge to form an image of those parents and their 
children's experiences. 



Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability

Negative parental appraisal of their child's disability can lead to parents not getting 
help for their child, worsening providers' lack of willingness to treat the child. Also, 
stigma can impact parents' views of their child's disability and make them feel ashamed 
of their child's condition, preventing parents from getting help for their child due to 
fear of judgment. Figure 2 demonstrates the core themes of this review. 

Figure 2 

According to Figure 2, for parental appraisal, parents have different expectations of 
their child's development and take responsibility for their child's disability. For social 
stigma, society judges parents and their families, which results in stress for the parents. 
For lack of help and resources, children of color with developmental disabilities are 
diagnosed at less frequency and they receive less care from providers. Parents have 
trouble communicating with providers due to language barriers. 

This paper includes a few limitations. First, due to the scarce literature on the subject, 
we could only have a limited number of studies, which hindered generalizability. A 
future article would delve deeper into the topic and do a systematic review. Second, we 
could only include a few developmental disabilities (such as ASD and ID) but did not 
include other conditions. As a result, this paper is mostly skewed toward autism 
research. Third, this paper did not examine all ethnic minorities; future authors should 
analyze a broader range of cultures. 

From our perspective, it is vital to take an ecological/systems approach to address these 
issues, examining how the individuals in families react to the systems in society by 
which they are affected. As explained in Bronfenbrenner (2015), this approach involves 
finding correlations between the microsystem of families, the exosystem of the 
healthcare system and schools, and the macrosystem of societal expectations. The goal is 
to design culturally relevant and culturally anchored interventions for parents. 
Mendelsohn et al. (2005) tested an intervention program called the Video Interaction 
Project (VIP) on Latino mothers of children with risk of developmental delay. The 
parent-child interactions in the intervention resulted in improved development of high-
risk young children. Other solutions must address faulty appraisals parents have 
regarding the disability of their child of color. This may involve teaching parents about 
developmental disabilities and educating them on the causes of these disabilities. Such 
an approach could counter certain false beliefs parents may hold, such as believing their 
child will grow out of symptoms, and their negative feelings, such as strain, anger, and 
frustration. As for the stigma, increasing general awareness and knowledge about 

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

 Core 
Themes 

 Parental 
Appraisal 

 Different 
expectations  Parents take 

responsibility

 Social Stigma 

Judged in 
 public 

Results in  
stress

 Lack of help 
and resources 

 Fewer diagnoses  Poor 
communication



Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Modirrousta & Harris 

developmental disability in communities of color is a start. In doing so, the blame and 
guilt that parents experience might decrease.  

Finally, to resolve the lack of resources or help, we must inform providers, educators, 
and practitioners of the differences in the child's symptomatology and the parents' 
reactions based on ethnicity. This will improve their communication, diagnosis, and 
treatment plans for children of color with developmental disabilities. Also, practitioners 
must provide better resources to these parents, whether it be resources in their native 
language or providers fluent in their native language. In addition, the knowledge 
gained from this review paper could serve to encourage rigorous research examining 
the topic further.  

Acknowledgments 
The author declares no conflict of interest. The author received no financial support 
for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. 

Correspondence to this article should be addressed to Annahita Modirrousta, Miami 
University Department of Psychology, 90 North Patterson Avenue 
Oxford, OH, 45056, USA. Email: modirra@miamioh.edu 

References 
Ahmedani, B. K. (2011). Mental health stigma: Society, individuals, and the profession. 

Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 8(2), 41–416. 

Anzaldo, S. B. (2020). Filipino American parental beliefs and perceptions about managing care 
for children and adults with autism spectrum disorder. [Doctoral Dissertation, 
University of California, Los Angeles]. ProQuest ID: Anzaldo_ucla_0031D_18948. 
Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m5285gqv. Retrieved from 
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8sw396x8  

Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network Surveillance Year 2010 Principal 
Investigators, & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2014). 
Prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years - autism 
and developmental disabilities monitoring network, 11 sites, United States, 
2010. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries (Washington, 
D.C., 63(2), 1–21.

Blanche, E. I., Diaz, J., Barretto, T., & Cermak, S. A. (2015). Caregiving experiences of 
Latino families with children with autism spectrum disorder. American Journal of 
Occupational Therapy, 69(5), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2015.017848  

Bishop, S. L., Richler, J., Cain, A. C., & Lord, C. (2007). Predictors of perceived negative 
impact in mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. American Journal of 
Mental Retardation, 112(6), 450–461. https://doi.org/10.1352/0895-
8017(2007)112[450:POPNII]2.0.CO;2  

Bronfenbrenner, U. (2005). Ecological systems theory (1992). In U. Bronfenbrenner 
(Ed.), Making human beings human: Bioecological perspectives on human 
development (pp. 106–173). Sage Publications Ltd. 



Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Burkett, K., Morris, E., Anthony, J., Shambley-Ebron, D., & Manning-Courtney, P. (2017). 
Parenting African American children with autism: The influence of respect and 
faith in mother, father, single-, and two-parent care. Journal of Transcultural 
Nursing: Official Journal of the Transcultural Nursing Society, 28(5), 496–504. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1043659616662316 

Burkett, K., Morris, E., Manning-Courtney, P., Anthony, J., & Shambley-Ebron, D. (2015). 
African American families on autism diagnosis and treatment: The influence of 
culture. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(10), 3244–3254. 
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2482-x  

Carr, T., & Lord, C. (2013). Longitudinal study of perceived negative impact in African 
American and Caucasian mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder. 
Autism, 17, 405-417. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362361311435155  

Comas-Díaz, L. (2000). An ethnopolitical approach to working with people of color. 
American Psychologist, 55(11), 1319. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-
066X.55.11.1319  

Cooper, C. E., Crosnoe, R., Suizzo, M. A., & Pituch, K. A. (2010). Poverty, race, and 
parental involvement during the transition to elementary school. Journal of Family 
Issues, 31(7), 859-883. https://doi.org/10.1177/0192513X09351515  

Costello, E. J., Keeler, G. P., & Angold, A. (2001). Poverty, race/ethnicity, and psychiatric 
disorder: A study of rural children. American Journal of Public Health, 91(9), 1494-
1498. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.91.9.1494  

Dababnah, S., & Parish, S. L. (2013). “At a moment, you could collapse”: Raising children 
with autism in the West Bank. Children and Youth Services Review, 35(10), 1670–
1678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2013.07.007 

Dardas, L., & Simmons, L. A. (2015). The stigma of mental illness in Arab families: A 
concept analysis. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 2015(22), 668–
679. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpm.12237

Farah, M. J., Shera, D. M., Savage, J. H., Betancourt, L., Giannetta, J. M., Brodsky, N. L., 
Malmud, E. K., & Hurt, H. (2006). Childhood poverty: Specific associations with 
neurocognitive development. Brain Research, 1110, 166–174. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2006.06.072  

Gannotti, M. E., Kaplan, L. C., Handwerker, W. P., & Groce, N. E. (2004). Cultural 
influences on health care use: Differences in perceived unmet needs and 
expectations of providers by Latino and Euro-American parents of children with 
special health care needs. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 25(3), 
156–165. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-200406000-00003  

Guerrero, A. D., Rodriguez, M. A., & Flores, G. (2011). Disparities in provider elicitation 
of parents' developmental concerns for US children. Pediatrics, 128(5), 901-909. 
https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2011-0030  



Modirrousta & Harris 

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Habib, S., Prendeville, P., Abdussabur, A., & Kinsella, W. (2017). Pakistani mothers' 
experiences of parenting a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in 
Ireland. Educational & Child Psychology, 34(2), 67.  

He, L. (2017). Cognitive behavior therapy for Asian American families of children  

Hilal, R. (2012). Vocational education and training for women and youth in Palestine: 

with developmental disabilities. The Family Journal, 25(2), 179-186. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480717697687 

Hodapp, R. M., & Ly, T. M. (2006). Parenting children with developmental disabilities. 
In Parenting (pp. 193-218). Routledge. 

Holm, V. A. (1989). Developmental disabilities: Delivery of medical care for children and 
adults. JAMA, 262(20), 2935-2936. 
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1989.03430200183054 

Jegatheesan, B. (2009). Cross-cultural issues in parent-professional interactions: A 
qualitative study of perceptions of Asian American mothers of children with 
developmental disabilities. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 
34(3–4), 123–136. https://doi.org/10.2511/rpsd.34.3-4.123   

Kim, I., Dababnah, S., & Lee, J. (2020). The influence of race and ethnicity on the 
relationship between family resilience and parenting stress in caregivers of 
children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(2), 650-
658. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-019-04269-6

Klingner, J. K., Blanchett, W. J., Harry, B. (2009). Race, culture, and developmental 
disabilities. In S. L., Odom, R. H., Horner, M., Snell, J. Blacher, (Eds.), Handbook 
on Developmental Disabilities (pp. 55– 75). Guilford Press. 

Leong, F., Park, Y. S., & Kalibatseva, Z. (2013). Disentangling immigrant status in mental 
health: Psychological protective and risk factors among Latino and Asian 
American immigrants. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 83, 361–371. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/ajop.12020  

Liptak, G. S., Benzoni, L. B., Mruzek, D. W., Nolan, K. W., Thingvoll, M. A., Wade, C. M., 
& Fryer, G. E. (2008). Disparities in diagnosis and access to health services for 
children with autism: Data from the National Survey of Children's Health. 
Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 29(3), 152-160.  
https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0b013e318165c7a0  

Macartney, S. E., Bishaw, A., & Fontenot, K. (2013). Poverty rates for selected detailed 
race and Hispanic groups by state and place: 2007-2011. US Department of 
Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, US Census Bureau. 

Magaña, S., Parish, S. L., & Son, E. (2016). Functional severity and Latino ethnicity in 
specialty services for children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of 
Intellectual Disability Research, 60(5), 424–434. https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12293 

Poverty reduction and gender equality under occupation. International Journal of 
Educational Development, 32(5), 686-695. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2012.02.008  



Raising a Child of Color with Developmental Disability

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Mandell, D. S., Listerud, J., Levy, S. E., & Pinto-Martin, J. A. (2002). Race differences in 
the age at diagnosis among Medicaid-eligible children with autism. Journal of the 
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 41(12), 1447-1453. 
https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200212000-00016  

Mandell, D. S., Wiggins, L. D., Carpenter, L. A., Daniels, J., DiGuiseppi, C., Durkin, M. 
S., Giarelli, E., Morrier, M. J., Nicholas, J. S., Pinto-Martin, J. A., Shattuck, P. T., 
Thomas, K. C., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., & Kirby, R. S. (2009). Racial/ethnic 
disparities in the identification of children with autism spectrum disorders. 
American Journal of Public Health, 99(3), 493-498. 
https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2007.131243   

Mendelsohn, A. L., Dreyer, B. P., Flynn, V., Tomopoulos, S., Rovira, I., Tineo, W., 
Pebenito, C., Torres, C., Torres, H., & Nixon, A. F. (2005). Use of videotaped 
interactions during pediatric well-child care to promote child development: A 
randomized, controlled trial. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 
26(1), 34–41.  

Nasser, K., Sachs, D., & Sa'ar, A. (2017). A necessary evil: Residential placement of 
people with intellectual disability among the Palestinian minority in Israel. 
Research in Developmental Disabilities, 60, 115-124. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2016.11.018  

Pachter, L. M., & Dworkin, P. H. (1997). Maternal expectations about normal child 
development in 4 cultural groups. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 
151(11), 1144-1150.  https://doi.org/10.1001/archpedi.1997.02170480074011  

Parish, S. L., Magaña, S., Rose, R., Timberlake, M., & Swaine, J. G. (2012). Health care of 
Latino children with autism and other developmental disabilities: Quality of 
provider interaction mediates utilization. American Journal on Intellectual and 
Developmental Disabilities, 117(4), 304–315. https://doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-
117.4.304  

Reichard, A., Sacco, T. M., & Turnbull, H. R., 3rd (2004). Access to health care for 
individuals with developmental disabilities from minority backgrounds. Mental 
Retardation, 42(6), 459–470. https://doi.org/10.1352/0047-
6765(2004)42<459:ATHCFI>2.0.CO;2  

Schuman, A. (2000). Parental and institutional decision making about children's healthy 
development: Conflicts and interests across cultures. Journal of Immigrant 
Health, 2(1), 43-51. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009539423093  

Son, E., Magaña, S., Pedraza, F. D. M., & Parish, S. L. (2020). Providers' guidance to 
parents and service use for Latino children with developmental disabilities. 
American Journal on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 125(1), 64-75. 
https://doi.org/10.1352/1944-7558-125.1.64  

US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. (2012). Individuals 
with disabilities education act (IDEA) database. 



Modirrousta & Harris 

Graduate Student Journal of Psychology 

Vega, W. A., & Rumbaut, R. G. (1991). Ethnic minorities and mental health. Annual 
Review of Sociology, 17(1), 351-383. 
https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.17.080191.002031 

Werner, S., & Shulman, C. (2013). Subjective well-being among family caregivers of 
individuals with developmental disabilities: The role of affiliate stigma and 
psychosocial moderating variables. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(11), 
4103-4114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.08.029  

Yeh, M., Hough, R. L., McCabe, K., Lau, A., & Garland, A. (2004). Parental beliefs about 
the causes of child problems: Exploring racial/ethnic patterns. Journal of the 
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(5), 605-612. 
https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200405000-00014  

Zuckerman, K. E., Mattox, K., Donelan, K., Batbayar, O., Baghaee, A., & Bethell, C. 
(2013). Pediatrician identification of Latino children at risk for autism spectrum 
disorder. Pediatrics, 132(3), 445–453. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2013-0383   

Zuckerman, K. E., Sinche, B., Cobian, M., Cervantes, M., Mejia, A., Becker, T., & 
Nicolaidis, C. (2014). Conceptualization of autism in the Latino community and 
its relationship with early diagnosis. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral 
Pediatrics, 35(8), 522. https://doi.org/10.1097/DBP.0000000000000091   

Zuckerman, K. E., Sinche, B., Mejia, A., Cobian, M., Becker, T., & Nicolaidis, C. (2014). 
Latino parents' perspectives on barriers to autism diagnosis. Academic Pediatrics, 
14(3), 301-308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2013.12.004  




