Residential treatment following outpatient treatment for children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities: A study of child and family characteristics

In this study, the question was explored whether children with a mild intellectual disability (MID) who were placed in residential treatment following outpatient treatment differ significantly on child and family characteristics from children with MID and not placed in residential treatment following outpatient treatment. The records of the children were examined with respect to various child and family characteristics. Retrospective case analyses were thus undertaken. The results showed those children placed in residential treatment to have experienced significantly more often a traumatic event than the other children. Those children placed in residential treatment had received significantly fewer months of outpatient treatment than those not placed in residential treatment. Finally, there were significantly more children placed in residential treatment having educationally incapable parents or parents with alcohol/drug problems and/or psychiatric problems than in the other group. The findings are discussed in light of a disturbed balance between the support needs and means of the family which can lead to placement of a child in a residential treatment. The possibilities of a multisystemic model for outpatient treatment are discussed.