The goal of the thesis is to examine the connection between the social and emotional competence of children with intellectual disabilities and parental behaviour with the independence of children with intellectual disabilities. 127 parents who have children with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 7 and 14 participated in the research. Parents assessed the social and emotional competence of children with intellectual disabilities using The Deveraux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA, Le Buffe, Shapiro and Naglieri, 2009/2014); parental behaviour with the Parental Behavior Questionnaire (URP29, Keresteš et al., 2012), and children's independence with a specially designed questionnaire consisting of a total of 7 items that could be grouped into three areas: self-care, social interactions and school work. The results show that a higher level of parental support is associated with a higher level of social and emotional competence of children with intellectual disabilities, as well as with their greater independence in general, but also in the areas of self-care and social interactions. Permissiveness of parents is associated with weaker self-control skills in children with intellectual disabilities, as well as with weaker independence in self-care. The results showed that restrictive control is not related to the social and emotional competences of children with intellectual disabilities, nor to their independence. The results showed a connection between social and emotional competencies measured by DESSA and independence, a higher level of social and emotional competencies was associated with a higher level of independence. All areas of social and emotional competence (except the area of the child's skills in relation to others) were related to all areas of independence. The child's skills in relation to others have been shown to be related to overall independence, the area of self-care and social interactions, while there is no connection with school work. We can conclude that parental support within parental behavior is significantly related to the development of social and emotional competences and independence in children with intellectual disabilities. In addition to the above, it was established that children who have a higher level of social and emotional competences show a higher degree of independence. The research was a collaboration between the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences and the Croatian Union of Associations of Persons with Disabilities (SOIH). It was carried out as part of the Platform 50+ project, which is aimed at "Improving the quality of life of people with disabilities".