Mother is most traumatized by child's rejection. Marriage may be troubled because mother bears the brunt of child's pathology, while father typically does not see the pathology and blames the wife. Child attempts to re-enact dysfunctional patterns in this home, symbolically or concretely. Healthy siblings resent or even hate the disturbed child, but may not express this to parents. The family becomes more isolated as child's behavior escalates.
Parents internalize child's problems as their failure.
Child relates happily to anyone outside the family, is oppositional, detached, rejecting within the family. Adolescents prematurely leave the family in negative ways. Children continue to love formerly abusive parents, as well as hate them. It is designed to be thought-provoking and to stimulate discussion in many areas of critical importance to success in parenting special needs children. Several states have now made this a part of their adoption education process.