Sibs update February 2019
New adult sibling group in Crawley
A new adult sibling support group is launching in Crawley, first meeting on 27th Feb for adult siblings who have a brother/sister with a learning disability or autism. You can register to attend and get further information here.
CPD Seminar for Counsellors
Calling all counselling professionals! Sibs is running a specialist seminar on the 12th April in London for those who are working as counsellors, psychotherapists or psychologists supporting or wishing to support, adult siblings of people with autism/learning disability. If you know a counsellor working in this field please pass on the details – the seminar is offered at a very reduced rate due to grant funding. This half day session will cover key issues counsellors need to know when supporting adult siblings and will be CPD (Continuing Professional Development) accredited. For more information click here.
Sibling Group Leader Training – Heading North?
Twice a year we run our Sibling Group Leader Training for anyone currently running, or planning to run a group for siblings in their local area. The training has run recently in London, but we are keen to know if people might be interested in training if it was held outside of London, probably in the north of England. Do email us to let us know info@sibs.org.uk
Money left in your budget?
We are getting to the end of the financial year – perhaps your parent group or work team has some budget left to use on training? Do contact us at Sibs and we will be happy to help organise a workshop for you.
New research on siblings
Nikita Hayden is a PhD student based at the University of Warwick, who has been supporting the work of Sibs. Here she tells us about a piece of sibling research she has been working on:
Parents of children with a learning disability often ask if their other children (siblings) are more likely to have psychological difficulties than other children – because they may be affected by having a disabled brother or sister.
Previous research studies have rather mixed findings - some suggest that siblings do have more psychological difficulties, and some not. Our latest study used data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), which is a very large study (over 15,000 children) born in 2000. MCS was designed to be representative of all children in the UK and so is likely to give a more definitive answer to the question about sibling outcomes.
We identified children with a learning disability in the MCS. When these children were 5 years old, their older siblings were also included in the MCS study. So, we compared psychological outcomes for children who were the older sibling of children who did or did not have a learning disability. We found that older siblings of children with learning disability had slightly higher scores on a measure of psychological difficulties than did the other older siblings. However, when we accounted for other factors that might be related to psychological difficulties (like family poverty), the siblings of children with learning disabilities had the same levels of difficulties as other siblings.
Overall, our findings suggest that siblings of children with a learning disability are only slightly more at risk of psychological difficulties than other siblings. Most siblings of children with learning disability were doing fine, though a small number might benefit from some help and support. Very importantly, it seemed that what might explain sibling difficulties where they did exist were factors related to having a brother or sister with learning disability (e.g., more likely to live in a poorer household). We did not find a simple story of increased problems only because a sibling has a brother or sister with a learning disability.
A research paper describing the study in detail is available to read here (open [free] access): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10802-018-00510-5
Want to join us?
We are currently looking for a new Treasurer to be part of Sibs Board of Trustees. The Board is a committed and experienced group of people who all share a determination to meet the needs of siblings. We are looking for a Treasurer with a background in finance/accounting who also has an interest in siblings/disability. We welcome applications from adult siblings.
Sibs’ trustees are unpaid volunteers and meet 4 times a year in London. For a job description and more information, please read the links below. If you would like to apply, please send your CV to info@sibs.org.uk
The Essential Trustee and Job description
Warm regards,
Clare Kassa
CEO
Sibs
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