Involving Fathers of Handicapped Infants: Translating Research into Program Goals

Abstract
While most early intervention programs for handicapped children that involve parents focus on the needs of the handicapped child's mother, the research indicates that fathers play an important role in their child's development and often need help learning how to adapt to the birth of a handicapped child and to foster the child's development. Our increasing understanding of the paternal role and the special needs of fathers enables us to suggest activities for programs to offer for fathers of handicapped young children.