Working with the families of children with mental handicap in India: Various models

This paper presents a rationale for working with families who have children with disabilities in India. The various types of parent and family involvement which have been developed at the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped are described. These include: individual programmes; group activities; family cottages; parent training programmes; sibling groups; and, self-help groups. Finally, the difficulties encountered in working with such families in India are discussed.