Parents of children with disabilities receive many different forms of support, and among those is also the support provided by professionals from different systems. It is very important for parents to be informed about early support services so that their children can be included in the services in a timely manner. The aim of this research was to determine parents’ awareness of the system of early support services for children with disabilities and their families in Brod-Posavina and Istria counties.In total, 152 parents participated in the study, out of which 63,8% were female and 36,2% were male. The average age of parents is 38 years. Data was collected using a questionnaire specifically designed for the purpose of this study, which is a component of a large-scale research on early support provided to children with disabilities and their parents. The first part of the questionnaire concerns sociodemographic characteristics, while the second part deals with the parents’ awareness of the system of early support services with regard to sociodemographic characteristics of parents. Considering the findings of the regression analysis, parents with a higher education were also better informed about early support services (ß = .25, p < .01). The collected data are a useful source about information of early support services by parents.Key words: system of early support services, parents' awareness, children with disabilities.

The presented research explored the relationship of social support, the resilience of people with disabilities and the satisfaction with life and hope for the future. The aim of the research was to explore the possibility of predicting the quality of life and hope for the future among people with disabilities on the grounds of sociodemographic data as well as measurements of resilience and social support on 230 participants. The research was conducted via online survey form, consisting of a questionnaire exploring demographic characteristics, Brief scale of resilience, Scale of satisfaction with life, Scale of hope for the future and Scale of social support. The findings of this research imply several possible defence factors for satisfaction with life and hope for the future of people with disabilities and the role of all of us is to encourage and improve social support for people with disabilities.

In Croatia, as well as elsewhere in the world, the treatment of individuals with disabilities has historically gone through a number of different phases, from direct discrimination to the final recognition and enactment of various legislative regulations in education systems. The earliest years of life are extremely important for the entire subsequent development of the individual. The environment in which a child lives is a significant factor in the quality and efficiency of its early development and subsequent progression. The increase in the number of children who are identified as children with special educational needs has caught attention of experts in many countries. This increase may be the result of an inadequate educational system, as well as increased and more pronounced differences between children in today’s schools. Identification of children with special educational needs brings about the need to create a classification system, which is an issue that has been troubling experts for a long time. The paper wants to highlight that children with disabilities in Croatia are still perceived from the standpoint of their disability, rather than their ability, and it is the experts who decide about their schooling, their employment and, thus, their entire life. Even though there are some good examples of successful inclusion of children with disabilities in the regular preschool and school system, it still remains to be an issue. Keywords: children, special educational needs, classification system, disability, education system