Parents’ perceptions of the foundational and emergent benefits of residential immersive life skills programs for youth with disabilities

•RILS programs prepare youth for transition to adult roles.•Youth experienced a range of foundational benefits and more individualized emergent benefits.•RILS programs can act as a catalyst to precipitate or ‘kick start’ new life trajectories for youth with disabilities.•RILS service providers can explain the diversity of possible youth benefits to parents of youth contemplating enrollment. To examine parents’ views of the benefits of residential immersive life skills programs for youth with disabilities. Three- and 12-month post-session interviews were held with ten parents of youth with disabilities who had attended one of three residential immersive life skills programs in one of three years of data collection. A deductive thematic analysis was conducted to describe the types of benefits reported by parents. Parents discussed foundational benefits that were common to youth and more individualized emergent benefits. The foundational benefits included acquisition of life skills, greater awareness of future possibilities, and enhancements to self-confidence. The emergent benefits included greater comfort in new situations, and changes in motivation and initiative, maturity and responsibility, and community involvement. Parents reported diverse benefits from involvement in these youth transition programs. In the eyes of parents, these programs prepared youth for transition to adult roles by enhancing awareness of life possibilities, amplifying existing capacities, and accelerating growth in adaptability, motivation, and maturity, as well as community involvement. The findings indicate the utility of RILS programs, and can be used to explain the diverse effects of these programs to parents and youth contemplating enrollment.