Sibling And Autism Essay

The longest relationship a person is most likely to have in their lifetime is with their sibling (Harris, 1994; Orsmond &Seltzer; 2007, Conway & Meyer 2008). Siblings develop a special connection because they share life experiences (Conway & Meyer 2008), and are often the most available play partners (Beyer, 2009). The sibling bond can however be compromised if one of the siblings has autism. With the number of those affected by autism rising 10 to 17% per year (Autism Society of America, 2003; Greeff et al., 2010), I would also like to consider the effect autism will have on the sibling relationship.
The very nature of autism presents itself with deficits in social interaction, reciprocity, and understanding emotions (Beyer, 2009). Therefore, it can be challenging for a typically developing sibling to form a strong bond. It has been found that children
The goals of the program were to improve sibling adjustment and sibling interactions, and to increase the siblings’ support networks and knowledge about autism (Kryzak et al., 2014). During each session, children with autism worked on their skills to play with others, while siblings participated in a support group. Then sibling pairs joined together for recreation time. The effects of the program were measured through observations of sibling interactions and surveys completed by both parents and siblings. Results showed that siblings reported significantly less negative feelings toward their sibling with autism after the program. In addition, knowledge about autism increased, although it was not significant. There was also a significant increase in the knowledge about support groups. Siblings’ interactions also improved, but were not significant. It was suggested that further research should involve longer programs of intervention and randomized control