Commentary on "The experiences and needs of mothers supporting young adolescents with intellectual disabilities through puberty and emerging sexuality"

The article by O'Neill, Lima, Thomson Bowe, and Newall (2015) reminds us of the all-too- familiar reality that emerging sexual development for young people with intellectual disabilities is often fraught with difficulty. In their qualitative descriptive study of the experiences of six mothers of adolescents with intellectual disabilities, O'Neill et al. (2015) have identified two major themes. The first theme is "mothers' reaction to adolescent development", with its three sub-themes of acceptance, anxiety, and avoidance. The authors have demonstrated that the mothers accepted physical pubescent changes (e.g., menstruation) as being normal and relatively straightforward to manage. However, the study shows that despite initial acceptance, the mothers experienced progressive anxiety when complex social rules of sexual engagement and intimate relationships became involved. This resulted in avoidance of the possibility of their children's expressions of sexual intimacy, and in anxiety that escalated with the prospect of pregnancy and childbirth within such relationships.