
Families play a key role in children’s
developmental outcomes
› Specific intervention plans

Garbarino (1990) used the ecological
model to show that all environments
have an impact on child development
› Family rituals are especially important
“Family rituals are repetitious, highly
valued, symbolic social activities that
transmit the family’s enduring values,
attitudes, and goals and are essentially
‘the core of the family culture.’”
 Three universal types of rituals:

› Family celebrations
› Family traditions
› Daily routines

Family celebrations – highly organized rituals that are
standard across families
› Religious holidays, secular holidays, and rites of passage

Family traditions - moderately organized, less culture
specific, and more idiosyncratic to the family
› Vacations, visits from family, family reunions, birthday and
anniversary customs, and special parties with ethnic food
and music

Daily rituals – the least standardized across families,
the most variable over time, and the most enacted
› Dinnertime customs, bath-time rituals, bedtime practices,
etc...

Distinction between daily rituals and daily routines
› Daily rituals have symbolic meaning; daily routines do not
have symbolic meaning
Routine
Ritual
Behaviorally Bound
Affectively Bound
Concrete
Symbolic
Mundane
Magical
Minimal planning or rote
Intensely planned
Teaches task
Teaches culture
Gives life order
Gives life meaning
Rituals are powerful organizers of
behavior within the family system that
provide the family with a sense of
stability, a unique identity, and a means
for socializing children within their cultural
context
 Functions: stability, identity, socialization

Rituals provide stability for families in times
of crisis or stress
 Hill’s ABCX model (family stress model)
 Family rituals represent a crisis-meeting
resource

› Empirical evidence: alcoholism transfer
Stability for mothers of children with
developmental disabilities
 Andes survivors’ use of rituals (e.g. rosary)
could have contributed to their ability to
handle crisis situations (e.g. avalanche)

Rituals can provide a family and
members of the family with a sense of
identity by creating a sense of belonging
and solidarity
 Through rituals, families are able to
passed down family values and beliefs,
reinforce the family’s heritage, and
recognize change within the family

Rituals are the occasions that serve to
facilitate social interaction among family
members
 Family rituals are the instances where
children learn how to appropriately act in
social situations



“please” and “thank you”
Research has shown that families that use
less family rituals are more likely to have
children with behavior disorders or problem
behaviors

Assessment of family rituals is one aspect of
a comprehensive assessment of family
resources, priorities, and concerns
Interviews are mostly used to get a
description of the dimensions of rituals
 Four dimensions of rituals

›
›
›
›
Structure
Meaning
Persistence
adaptability
Structure refers to the core elements of
rituals: what, when, where, and who
 Families that rarely engage in rituals are
more likely to miss out a sense of family
identity, stability, and socialization
opportunities
 Example: Sleeping twin boys

Symbolic significance of the rituals;
affective content or meaning associated
with enactment of the rituals
 Rituals associated with transitions can
often lose meaning for a family with a
child that has a developmental disability
 Example: Getting a sitter and going out

Commitment of the family to
maintaining the rituals despite obstacles
to participation, which is protective
feature for the family
 Families that have a child with a disability
often find that rituals are neglected or
abandoned in response to the needs of
their child.
 Example: evening walks

Ability of the family to adapt rituals to
meet the needs of the individual or the
entire family over time
 Rituals should be adaptable in order to
maintain their meaning
 Three ways to adapt rituals:

› Construct a new ritual
› Reinstate a lost ritual
› Modify a no longer functional ritual to meet
the needs of the family

Early interventionists should incorporate and
work with family rituals when developing
interventions for children with development
disabilities.
› These interventions are more likely to be
practiced, and they are less likely to
overburden the family.
 Example: meal time program
› Interventions can include rituals
 Example: commencement ceremony