Abstract
Families of children with special needs experience impacts on their emotional, financial, mental, and physical wellbeing (Green, 2002; Schall, 2000; Dellve et al., 2000). In addition to the complexities of raising a child, parents of children with special needs must navigate through a variety of specialized treatments, which may be costly and time consuming. This study explored the needs, concerns, and desires of parents who had young children with special needs. Thirty-four caregivers participated in 75-minute, mixed-method, face-to-face interviews. Qualitative data were coded and organized into themes. Quantitative data were analyzed by conducting frequency and chi-square analyses. No statistically significant relationship was found between household income and utilization of additional services (X2=1.794, p>.05) or between parents’ level of education (X2=3.188, p>.05) and household income (X2=.355, p>.05) on their feelings of comfort with navigating the educational system. Caregivers of children with special needs desired to obtain additional services and information for their children but found cost, lack of knowledge about resources and lack of access to resources to be barriers to accessing desired services.