Parental satisfaction with early intervention services for children with visual impairments and multiple disabilities in Greece

Early intervention programs offer important services for families of young children with disabilities. Recently in Greece, visually impaired children with multiple disabilities participate in early intervention services. This study was designed to estimate families' perceptions concerning the effectiveness of early intervention services and determine whether specific characteristics of the families are associated with parents' satisfaction. Participants complete a modified version of the Project Dakota assessment of program effectiveness and also they were asked to fill a questionnaire including personal characteristics of each family such as: Parent's education level, severity of child's visual impairment, time participation in the program. The results revealed high scores in all domains of parents' satisfaction. Characteristics of the child and parents were not related to parental satisfaction. Results suggest that, this specific program provides important support for families of children with visual impairments and multiple disabilities.