Abstract
People with developmental disabilities (DD) lack access to many aspects of sexuality education and often experience restrictions in romantic relationships. One factor contributing to this lack of access includes parents feeling uncomfortable providing appropriate sexuality education to their children with DD despite being the primary source of this information. To better understand what supports are available to parents, the current thematic review explored the existing literature on sexuality education for individuals with DD that explicitly includes parent involvement. Resulting literature was thematically clustered into four categories (a) parent opinion on curriculum/program content or delivery; (b) parent participation as a training recipient; (c) parent feedback and post-implementation outcomes, and (d) recommendations from program developers on how to better utilize parents. Current literature highlights how parents can have a meaningful role in the development of sexuality programs, and how individuals with DD can greatly benefit from programs that include parent involvement.
Keywords: sexuality education, developmental disability, parents
