Examination of the empathic tendencies of the mothers of disabled children with communication deficiencies

As the complex and specialized service needs of children with disabilities require continuity, they make children dependent on their parents. In Turkish society, mothers take more responsibility for parenting than fathers, and mothers usually take care of the disabled child. In this study, the empathic tendencies of mothers of disabled children with communication difficulties were examined and compared with the empathic tendencies of mothers of normally developing children. In the study, mothers (n=75) of children with disabilities between the ages of 3-18 with communication difficulties from six different special education and rehabilitation center in Ankara, Konya, Zonguldak, Hatay, Gaziantep and Giresun and mothers (n= 69) of normally developing children from the same age group constituted the sample group. In the study, the "Socio-demographic Information Form" which was created by the researcher was used and the empathetic tendencies of the mothers were evaluated with the "Empathic Tendency Scale" (ETS). The "Communication Functions Classification System" (CFCS) was used to classify the communication levels of children with disabilities. According to the research results; There is a statistically significant difference between the ETS scores of mothers of disabled children with communication difficulties and the ETS scores of mothers of normally developing children (p<0.01). There was no statistically significant difference between the socio-demographic characteristics of both groups in terms of age, educational status and number of children (p>0.01). Empathetic tendencies of mothers did not differ according to IFSS scores and diagnoses of children with disabilities. Keywords: mothers of disabled children, empathy, Empathic Tendency Scale