Citation

McConkey R, Smyth M. Child. Soc. 2003; 17(1): 18-31.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, National Children's Bureau of the United Kingdom, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/chi.725

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The majority of school leavers over two years from two special schools for pupils with severe learning disabilities were individually interviewed (N = 34), as were their parents (N = 38). Parental reports stressed the amount of care and supervision required by these young people. They viewed them as vulnerable to various different hazards such as crossing roads and only a minority were prepared to take the risk of teaching them. However more of the young people felt they were capable of certain tasks. Parents had a particular fear that their son or daughter may be taken advantage of sexually even though the bigger risk--going by the young people's reports--is verbal abuse and bullying from peers. A model is proposed of the influences on parental assessments of risks. This might be used in arriving at 'shared risk-taking' strategies with professionals and the young people during the later years of schooling.