Coping Mechanism of Families with Autistic Children
CHAPTER 1
The Problem and Its Background
Introduction
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that affects the brain’s development of social and communication skills and said to be a behaviorally-defined condition. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) a person with autism has to deal with great consequences due to the different adjustments they have to follow. Along with the stress felt by the autistic person, their families are the ones who should handle the responsibilities in raising their autistic children. Since they have to raise the children with a disability, a big burden corresponds to the adjustment they have to initiate to their autistic child and for the whole family as well. Their responsibility is even more difficult since there are expenses due to the special needs that should be provided in raising their children with autism. The families’ responsibility for their education along with daily care and acquisition of other resources and assistance is very demanding in every way.
Along with the material burdens inherent in raising a child with such disabilities, families deal with emotional and social conflicts as well. Behavior associated with autism may be a great stressor on the family, and have been associated with poor understanding among the parents and the siblings. At most times, the siblings experience anxieties from adapting to their autistic siblings because it creates great emotional stress from coping with the unusual behaviors exhibited by the children with autism. The parents are the ones who are primarily affected by this situation, they have to deal with how they can provide their autistic children their special needs and another burden for them is teaching their other children to fully understand the condition of their sibling with autism and how can they fully adapt to the changes and the effects of raising an autistic child to each of their children and for the whole family in order to be well-adjusted in raising their children with autism
The Problem and Its Background
Introduction
Autism is a pervasive developmental disorder that affects the brain’s development of social and communication skills and said to be a behaviorally-defined condition. (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) a person with autism has to deal with great consequences due to the different adjustments they have to follow. Along with the stress felt by the autistic person, their families are the ones who should handle the responsibilities in raising their autistic children. Since they have to raise the children with a disability, a big burden corresponds to the adjustment they have to initiate to their autistic child and for the whole family as well. Their responsibility is even more difficult since there are expenses due to the special needs that should be provided in raising their children with autism. The families’ responsibility for their education along with daily care and acquisition of other resources and assistance is very demanding in every way.
Along with the material burdens inherent in raising a child with such disabilities, families deal with emotional and social conflicts as well. Behavior associated with autism may be a great stressor on the family, and have been associated with poor understanding among the parents and the siblings. At most times, the siblings experience anxieties from adapting to their autistic siblings because it creates great emotional stress from coping with the unusual behaviors exhibited by the children with autism. The parents are the ones who are primarily affected by this situation, they have to deal with how they can provide their autistic children their special needs and another burden for them is teaching their other children to fully understand the condition of their sibling with autism and how can they fully adapt to the changes and the effects of raising an autistic child to each of their children and for the whole family in order to be well-adjusted in raising their children with autism
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