Parental attitudes towards the importance of recreation for their children with disabilities

Although recreation and leisure play an important role in the lives of children, the experiences children with disabilities have with recreation tend to be passive, parent-oriented, less varied and socially isolating. The literature states that many children with disabilities encounter barriers to recreation and leisure participation such as weather, transportation, accessibility, costs, communication, lack of acceptance and lack of programs.;The purpose of this study was to investigate parent's attitudes towards the importance of recreation to their children with disabilities. Of the 137 selected to participate 37 families from two Children's Treatment Centres in Northern Ontario completed a Parents Recreation Attitude Questionnaire package by mail. Based on the findings parents reported a low participation and lack of programs. Minimal support was found for the hypothesis that parents of children who participate in organized recreation programs will have a more positive attitude than those who do not. It was found that mother tended to have a more positive attitude towards recreation than fathers. Parents reported that children with disabilities did not participate in the same number of recreation activities as their siblings. A link between a child's level of independence and their recreation involvement was found.;The study results demonstrated that parents are an important resource as they provided crucial information and suggestion about the recreation involvement of children with disabilities. The information gained from this study should be used to create recreation programs designed to meet the needs of children and incorporate the view/attitudes of parents.