Linking Models of Disability for Children with Developmental Disabilities

Children with disabilities, their families, and the social workers who provide services are faced with navigating complex social and institutional environments in their quest for developmental, educational and daily living supports. Models of disabilities provide conceptual frameworks for understanding and action that can inform the decision-making process of parents and social workers. A new ecological model of disability, the systems model, is proposed that integrates the medical model, focused on individual deficits, the social model, focused John C. Bricout, PhD, is Assistant Professor, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130 (E-mail: [email protected]). Shirley L. Porterfield, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Missouri-St. Louis, College of Arts and Sciences, 8001 Natural Bridge Road, St. Louis, MO 63121 (E-mail: [email protected]). Colleen M. Tracey, MSW, PhD Student, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130 (E-mail: [email protected]). Matthew O. Howard, PhD, is Associate Professor, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1196, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130 (E-mail: [email protected]). The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Mental Health Services Research Center and the Comorbidity and Additions Center at Washington University. Journal of Social Work in Disability & Rehabilitation, Vol. 3(4) 2004 http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JSWDR © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J198v03n04_04 45 on disabling social environments, and the transactional model, focused on person-environment interactions. Diagnostic, institutional, and practice implications of the new model are discussed. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: © 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]