 Families play a key role in children’s developmental outcomes › Specific intervention plans  Garbarino (1990) used the ecological model to show that all environments have an impact on child development › Family rituals are especially important

 “Family rituals are repetitious, highly valued, symbolic social activities that transmit the family’s enduring values, attitudes, and goals and are essentially ‘the core of the family culture.’”  Three universal types of rituals: › Family celebrations › Family traditions › Daily routines

 Family celebrations – highly organized rituals that are standard across families › Religious holidays, secular holidays, and rites of passage  Family traditions - moderately organized, less culture specific, and more idiosyncratic to the family › Vacations, visits from family, family reunions, birthday and anniversary customs, and special parties with ethnic food and music  Daily rituals – the least standardized across families, the most variable over time, and the most enacted › Dinnertime customs, bath-time rituals, bedtime practices, etc...  Distinction between daily rituals and daily routines › Daily rituals have symbolic meaning; daily routines do not have symbolic meaning

RoutineRitual Behaviorally BoundAffectively Bound ConcreteSymbolic MundaneMagical Minimal planning or roteIntensely planned Teaches taskTeaches culture Gives life orderGives life meaning

 Rituals are powerful organizers of behavior within the family system that provide the family with a sense of stability, a unique identity, and a means for socializing children within their cultural context  Functions: stability, identity, socialization

 Rituals provide stability for families in times of crisis or stress  Hill’s ABCX model (family stress model)  Family rituals represent a crisis-meeting resource › Empirical evidence: alcoholism transfer  Stability for mothers of children with developmental disabilities  Andes survivors’ use of rituals (e.g. rosary) could have contributed to their ability to handle crisis situations (e.g. avalanche)

 Rituals can provide a family and members of the family with a sense of identity by creating a sense of belonging and solidarity  Through rituals, families are able to passed down family values and beliefs, reinforce the family’s heritage, and recognize change within the family

 Rituals are the occasions that serve to facilitate social interaction among family members  Family rituals are the instances where children learn how to appropriately act in social situations  “please” and “thank you”  Research has shown that families that use less family rituals are more likely to have children with behavior disorders or problem behaviors

 Assessment of family rituals is one aspect of a comprehensive assessment of family resources, priorities, and concerns  Interviews are mostly used to get a description of the dimensions of rituals  Four dimensions of rituals › Structure › Meaning › Persistence › adaptability

 Structure refers to the core elements of rituals: what, when, where, and who  Families that rarely engage in rituals are more likely to miss out a sense of family identity, stability, and socialization opportunities  Example: Sleeping twin boys

 Symbolic significance of the rituals; affective content or meaning associated with enactment of the rituals  Rituals associated with transitions can often lose meaning for a family with a child that has a developmental disability  Example: Getting a sitter and going out

 Commitment of the family to maintaining the rituals despite obstacles to participation, which is protective feature for the family  Families that have a child with a disability often find that rituals are neglected or abandoned in response to the needs of their child.  Example: evening walks

 Ability of the family to adapt rituals to meet the needs of the individual or the entire family over time  Rituals should be adaptable in order to maintain their meaning  Three ways to adapt rituals: › Construct a new ritual › Reinstate a lost ritual › Modify a no longer functional ritual to meet the needs of the family

 Early interventionists should incorporate and work with family rituals when developing interventions for children with development disabilities. › These interventions are more likely to be practiced, and they are less likely to overburden the family.  Example: meal time program › Interventions can include rituals  Example: commencement ceremony