Research has shown that the expectations parents hold for their children are
important to children’s academic and socio-emotional development. Much of the
research in this field has shown how socially disadvantaged parents or those from
minority racial or ethnic groups hold lower expectations for their children, in
terms of educational achievement or occupational attainment. There has been
much less focus on the expectations parents hold for children with different types
of disabilities and whether these expectations influence the development of
these children, in part due to lack of data. This paper addresses that gap and goes
on to ask whether the educational expectations mothers hold for their children at
age 9 shape children’s academic and social wellbeing at age 13
