Skar, L., & Tamm, M. (2001). My assistant and I: Disabled children's and adolescents' roles and relationships to their assistants. Disability and Society, 16, 917-931.
This qualitative study was conducted in northern Sweden and investigated how children and adolescents with restricted mobility perceived their assistants (paraprofessionals), especially as it relates to their roles and relationships with each other. Participants consisted of 13 children and adolescents with restricted mobility and ranged in age from 8 to 19 years. Nine of the assistants were female and four were male. The roles and responsibilities of these assistants varied. The first author conducted semi-structured interviews with students.
Findings were reported based on the perspectives of students in categories related to: (1) difficulties associated with the replacement of assistants; (2) assistants functioning in mother/father roles; (3) the professional assistant who is respectful of the needs of students; (4) the assistant as a friend and associated benefits and disadvantages; and (5) descriptions of the ideal assistant and characteristics students valued the most. Limitations of this study were described in terms of sampling issues associated with the number of students interviewed and how a larger group may have influenced additional findings.
Summarized by: Steve Broer- December 2003