Parents have great importance in a child’s life, as they are the child’s first environment through which they acquire experiences and develop their personality and future aspirations. Therefore, parents are considered the cornerstone of the process of socialization because they serve as models through which children learn, are influenced by, and influence in return. The effects of upbringing during the preschool years remain and become deeply rooted throughout school life. Accordingly, attention to the child’s psychological development and acceptance of disability in a deaf child, while providing the opportunity for growth, communication, and interaction with family members in ordinary situations, helps shape the child and supports the development of his or her personality (Farouk Sadiq, 1997).

Watson (2008) pointed to the increasing importance of the parental role compared with that of teachers in the upbringing of deaf children. This can be explained as follows:

Parents and the Process of Social Interaction with Children with Special Needs

The family is undoubtedly the first social group through which children acquire the basic social characteristics; that is, it is the primary channel of socialization (Fuad al-Bahi, 1981).

Therefore, the family experiences to which a child is exposed during the early years of life have an important influence on psychological development (Hamed Zahran, 1985), contributing to the development of the child’s psychological functions. The family plays a highly important role in developing a range of behavioral characteristics that form the nature of the human child (Muhammad Shaalan, 1978).

Much of what a child learns takes place at home because parents have the greatest influence on the child’s development, as they are the child’s first and primary teachers (Jamal al-Khatib et al., 1992). Given the central role played by both the father and mother in their interaction with their child with special needs, the researcher will discuss the relationship of each parent with this child.

First: The Mother’s Interactive Role with Her Child with Special Needs

The mother plays an important role in the process of raising her child. The child receives his or her first nourishment from the mother, who stays awake to care for and protect the child, provides healthy food, clean clothing, and peaceful sleep in her arms. Therefore, the child depends entirely on her to satisfy his or her physical and psychological needs, both during the first years after birth and during the later stages of childhood.

Thus, the mother is responsible for caring for the child’s needs from birth and fulfilling those needs through her. In her arms, the child develops his or her first experiences (Mustafa Hawamdeh, 1991). Because a child with special needs has a strong need for support, the first person to activate this role is the mother. This is due to the attachment relationship between her and the child. Therefore, the mother plays the role of emotional support and represents a source of material and psychological fulfillment for the child, although she may also become an instrument through which the child is abandoned or rejected.

Accordingly, Kaplan and Mason identify four tasks for establishing an appropriate foundation for a healthy relationship between a mother and her child with special needs. These are:

First Task:

This generally occurs around the time of birth and involves preparing the mother for the possibility of losing her child. As a result, the mother may withdraw while experiencing grief associated with her expectations and hopes that her child will live, while at the same time preparing herself for the possibility of the child’s death.

Second Task:

This involves the mother acknowledging and confronting what she perceives as her failure in childbirth, represented by not giving birth to a typical child.

Third Task:

This includes the process of building a relationship with the child who has been born. The mother begins preparing herself to continue developing an emotional relationship with her child.

Fourth Task:

This concerns the mother’s understanding of the differences between her child and other children in terms of the child’s special needs and patterns of development (Jamal al-Khatib et al., 1992).

The final task becomes evident through the care and attention that the mother provides to her child, beginning with the stimulation of emotions and symbols that give the child his or her human nature (Huda Qannawi, 1988).

At the same time, maternal deprivation has harmful effects on various aspects of development. It can hinder physical, mental, and social development and can also lead to disturbances in psychological development, manifested in disturbances in the formation of the superego (Mustafa Fahmi, 1975).

The mother attempts to struggle on behalf of a child whom she may have difficulty understanding. The mother’s anger here is partly inspired by her inability to easily identify the sources of the child’s discomfort, particularly in the case of a deaf child, who often depends on forms of communication that are nonverbal in nature. As a result, the child remains more dependent on the mother, placing greater burdens upon her, since she cannot physically or emotionally distance herself from caring for the child and from the child’s outside activities.

The mother may experience psychological distress and may allow herself to act according to what she perceives or distort part of what she perceives in a way that changes her understanding of reality. Thus, psychological rejection by the mother may occur when she discovers that her child cannot hear. For example, she may ignore the fact that the child has failed to respond to her voice, thereby attempting to deny that her newborn has lost the ability to hear. The isolation imposed by deafness is considered by the mother to be another factor contributing to an excessive emotional attachment to her deaf child (Eugene Mendel, McKay Vernon, 1976).

The researcher observes that the mother may represent the link between her child with special needs and the child’s disability through balanced maternal fulfillment of the child’s biological and psychological needs. A positive attachment relationship between the child and the mother may contribute to the child’s development and upbringing in a manner that may contain either healthy or unhealthy behaviors.

Second: The Father’s Interactive Role with His Child with Special Needs

The father’s participation in family life helps prevent complete dependence on the mother. The father is viewed as a representative of the outside world, a source for expanding the child’s horizons, and a means of conveying an understanding of the social system (Huda Qannawi, 1988).

The father is also a source of authority in the home. He issues commands and prohibitions and imposes rewards and punishments. The child therefore imitates his father, identifies with his personality, and regards him as a good role model and an example to follow (Abd al-Rahman al-Asiwi, 1980). Accordingly, the father’s personality is considered an important and influential factor in the personality of his children. A psychologically healthy father naturally contributes to raising psychologically healthy children who do not suffer from tensions or negative emotional reactions that could make the child behaviorally disturbed. Conversely, a harsh and authoritarian father represents an undesirable role model for his children (Ibrahim Atiya, 1995).

Therefore, depriving a child of the presence of the father in the home means depriving the family of an important source of material support, an appropriate guiding model, and psychological communication, all of which are important for achieving personal and psychological stability for the child (Muhammad Ali Hassan, 1970).

As a result of a child’s hearing loss, as in the case of a deaf child, the father may find himself confused and uncertain about what to do, due to his experience of psychological pain.

Jamal al-Khatib et al. (1992) therefore indicate that, in response to this feeling, the father may experience conflicts that affect his acceptance of his child. He may feel guilty and may fear that the circumstances surrounding the birth will reflect negatively on his masculinity. His level of self-esteem may decline because of the child he has fathered, and he may often find no one upon whom he can rely to express his emotions.

For this reason, the father of a deaf boy may become preoccupied with thinking about how his son will be able to work and function as a man with complex responsibilities in the future. If his daughter is the one who is deaf, the father may attempt to help her become capable of distinguishing between the good intentions and bad intentions of others (Eugene Mendel, McKay Vernon, 1976).

The Father’s Interaction with His Child

The researcher observes that the father’s interaction with his child with special needs involves accepting the child as he or she is, including the disability that causes limitations and deficiencies in communication, because the child is part of him. Therefore, the father must protect and care for the child. However, he may also reject the child if he believes that a child with a disability will not achieve what he hopes for and will not be someone of whom he can be proud in front of others.