Mothers' perceptions of the behavior and problem-solving skills of their developmentally delayed sons

Mothers of 17 developmentally delayed preschool boys and 17 age-matched control boys were asked to predict how well their sons would score on the Preschool Embedded Figures Test, to estimate "the average child's" score on the test, and to evaluate their son's attentiveness and cooperation during testing. Mothers of delayed boys were found to hold an idealized view of "the average child's" problem-solving skills, were significantly less accurate than were mothers of control boys in predicting their sons' level of performance, and tended to rate their sons as less cooperative and attentive than the boys were rated by an independent observer. The impact of such distortions in maternal perceptions and expectations were discussed.