Living with a child with special needs can have profound effects on the entire family including the extended family members, siblings, parents, and the child with the special needs. It can affect all aspects of family functioning, since they have to be on the watch for the child. On the positive side, living with a child with special needs can expand horizons, develop family cohesion, increase the family members’ awareness of their inner strength, and promote connections to community groups. On the negative side, this child will need time, physical and emotional demands and financial cost in order to make the child’s life comfortable. However, the impacts will depend on the child’s condition, and its severity, as well as the emotional, physical, and the financial resources available to take care of the child. Autism is a condition that affects a child’s brain functioning. It is a prevalent developmental disorder, which appears in children before the age of three. A child with autism is not able to express their needs like any other normal child because, this disorder affects their ability to communicate and interact with others. Therefore, this leaves parents and caregivers to play a guessing game on what specifically the child maybe asking for. However, when they cannot establish what exactly the child needs, both parties feel frustrated, the child and the caregiver. The child will feel that the caregiver is not taking care of his/her needs while the caregiver will be frustrated because, he/she cannot be able to determine exactly what the child wants. A child with autism can be frustrated to an extent of becoming aggressive, and even injuring him/herself and this can threaten the child’s life, and that of the entire family. Thi... ... middle of paper ... ...rnal Child Health Journal. 12(6):679-683. Snell, M. E. (2003). Autism, Education of Individuals with. In J. W. Guthrie (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Education (2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 161-162). New York: Macmillan Reference USA. Boyd, B. A. (2002). Examining the relationship between stress and lack of social support in mothers of children with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 17, 208-215. Gray, D. E. (2002). Ten years on: A longitudinal study of families of children with autism. Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 27, 215-222. Trigonaki, N. (2002). Parents of children with autism and the five basic needs. International Journal of Reality Therapy, 11, 13-14. Freedman, R. I., & Boyer, N. C. (2000). The power to choose: Supports for families caring for individuals with developmental disabilities. Health and Social Work, 25, 59-68.
Hartmann, Ashley, "Autism and its Impact on Families" (2012). Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers. Paper 35. http://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/35
Autistic children are isolated from most schools, socially and within the classroom. Although most children with auti...
As a parent, learning that your child has developmental disabilities can be a life altering moment in time and can cause a devastating chain reaction of events. These events have the potential to change family priorities and structure, hurt relationships, deplete financial savings and stability, and emotionally drain everyone intimately involved with you and your child. How do you find human services programs, agencies, or advocates, whose primary job is to help you provide everything your child needs? It certainly can be an overwhelming barrier, but it's the first step in giving you, your child, and your family a plan of action, goals, success, good mental health and bringing everyone back together.
Stoner, J. B., & Thompson, S. J. (2005). Welcome to our World: Parent perceptions of interactions between parents of young children with ASD and education professionals. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 20(1), 39-51.
“Your child has autism spectrum disorder” are words no parent wants to hear. They are words that will instill fear, worry, and sadness. When parents hear this for the first time, they will have many questions. “Is there anything I can do to help my child? If so, what can be done?” Early intervention services; such as applied behavior analysis therapy, occupational therapy, sensory integration therapy, and speech therapy before the age of three; can help improve the development of children with autism spectrum disorder. As an educator, early intervention is a subject teachers should be well educated in. It would be beneficial to the educator and the student, for a teacher to know and understand early intervention strategies.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that effects the brains development. It is characterized by affecting communication, cognition and social interaction. The spectrum of the disorders ranges from a mild condition called Asperger’s syndrome to a more severe form, which severely impairer’s development. The Office of Communications and Public Liaison states that the disorder affects one and eighty-eight children, however ASD effects boys more frequently than girls (Office of Communications and Public Liaison, 2013). ASD emerges in all age, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The significant varied character and severity of the disorder is why ASD is considered a spectrum that poses a broad range of symptoms.
Seltzer, M. M., Shattuck, P., Abbeduto, L., & Greenberg, J. S. (2004). Trajectory of development in adolescents and adults with autism. Mental retardation and developmental disabilities research reviews, 10(4), 234-247.
Similar to the other interview questions, the answers seemed to vary depending on the age of the child. However, all of the families discussed the issue of “acceptance”, rather it be acceptance for themselves, extended family members, or acceptance from the community and strangers. Other challenges discussed were dealing with family outings, discipline, and the child’s siblings. For the positive aspects, all of the participants discussed how their life “views” had changed for the positive. Other positives discussed were their child’s growth and support and relationships built with other special needs families.
"The Affects of Autism in Families and in Partner Relationships - Autism College." Autism College. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014.
Like any child with a developmental or learning disability, people often define the lives of children with autism by their condition rather than who they really are on the inside. Cariello faced this very problem. Even while her son Jack was still a baby, Cariello felt the nagging sensation that her precious son experienced life differently. After performing numerous diagnostic tests, the blue folder that contained all of Jack’s personal information began to fill up fast. In the eyes of the health professionals working with Jack, the folder’s information that detailed his struggles and weaknesses soon began to define his character. Still, through it all, Cariello knew that her son was “beautiful inside, outside, and
What is Autism? People are quick to label people as Autistic but very rarely understand what it means though they may nod their head and say "ohh makes sense". Autism - also know as ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder- is a complex developmental disorder affecting primarily ones communication and social interaction skills. Meaning they have difficulties communicating effectively or even at all. They struggle in social setting and don 't typically excel in social games or activities.
65 children, 52 boys and 13 girls who were not diagnosed with autism, from 3 different clinics, were used for this study. They were under 3 years of age, they were referred to the clinics due to social and/or language issues, and their parents provided informed consent. The children had also previously had 2 independent diagnostic evaluations. A second group of 37 children were used from this sample, th...
Autism is a developmental disorder which affects many small aspects of the person's life and can sometimes affect major parts. Autism affects 1 in 68 children and for most it’s a lifelong
Dempsey, I. & Foreman, P. ( 2001). A Review of Educational Approaches for Individuals with Autism. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 48 (1), 105-116.
Many treatments have been suggested to parents for children with autism. An Internet survey was carried out and allocated to parents in order to classify the treatments applied by parents of children with autism. Almost all 108 of the 111 treatments recorded in the survey were used by at least one parent. An overall of 764 surveys were presented to the website throughout the 3-month data gathering tim...