The principal aim of this study was to assess the validity and usefulness of the Ways of Coping (Revised) questionnaire (Folkman & Lazarus, 1985) with a British sample of parents of children with Down's syndrome. Factor analysis yielded five subscales which were compared with those reported elsewhere. Other properties of the instrument were investigated. It was concluded that the instrument was potentially valuable to those investigating coping in families with special problems.

Summary. Forty‐four mothers of children with Down's syndrome (CA mean 61.5 months, range 37.90; MA mean 36.4 months, range 11.63) checked off the words used by their children from a list of 108 ‘topic words’ taken from the First Word Language Programme (Gillham, 1979). Significant correlations were found with Reynell Expressive Language Age (r = 0.87) and Verbal Comprehension Age (r = 0.76). The importance of formal methods of integrating parents into the assessment process is discussed in relation to the interpretation of sources of variance between parent and professional assessments.