Transition to Adulthood as a Joint Parent-Youth Project for Young Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Eight dyads (N = 16) residing in Western Canada participated in this investigation of how young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and their parents jointly construct, articulate, and act on goals pertinent to the young adults' transition to adulthood. Using the action-project method to collect and analyze conversations and video recall data, cases were grouped representing the ways goal-directed projects brought relationship (n = 4), planning (n = 3) or both (n = 1) to the foreground as joint projects. Resources internal to the dyad such as emotional resources, and external to the dyad, facilitated formulation and pursuit of projects. Lack of external supports and limited parental knowledge about IDD hindered joint project formulation.