Parenting Children with Autism
What it Takes When Parenting Children with Autism
Parenting children with autism could be very stressful and challenging to both fathers and mothers since a lot of sacrifices is needed. Research has shown that one out of 68 children must be diagnosed with autism with the number of children receiving special education as a result elevating from 20,000 to 140,000 in the last ten years in U.SA (Gross, 2004). This is a form of long-life disability that affects the child’s communication skills, social skills, physical development, psychological development as well as behavioral changes. Writers who offer essay help online at Edudorm essay writing service notes that the American Society of Autism identifies self-isolation, communication abnormalities, and obsessive as well as compulsive behaviors among children autism. Traditionally, this disability has always been attributed to parental negligence. In the recent, scientists have attributed autism to environmental as well as genetic factors (Volkmar & Weisner, 2004). Child experts advise on treatment immediately after diagnosis. However, there is no cure for this condition but behavioral modification as well as training can go a long way in ensuring sustenance of the child and adaptation to normal life as other children. This has led to confusion and family emotional problems that are reflected with the increase in divorce cases among couples with autistic children (Jennings, 2005). Furthermore, it is revealed that mothers often suffer more (Bluth et al., 2015) compared to fathers in Parenting children with autism. A lot of support, as well as training, are needed for such parents to ensure they give such children love, care and attention that they need.
Autism is a mental disorder that occurs early in childhood during brain development (JH Miles, 2005). An autistic child is unable to use language to communicate and form relationships with the people effectively (Dunn et al., 2001). This paper is very important since there has been a rapid increase in cases of children with autism with the United States recording 1in 90 births (Ganz 2007). These children have been neglected by parents, discriminated against and made to suffer due to the abnormalities they display hence fueling the need for support and assistance. Most parents are always filled with guilt and shame and due to ignorance as well as cultural beliefs on this condition treat these children differently from others. This paper will first examine the role of parents in bringing up children with autism, second, it will discuss the perceptions of parent-child interactive relationships with such children, challenges parents face while bringing up children with autism, Third, it will address the works of researchers on parenting children with autism, the methodology they used as well as critic the study and state the limitation of their study. Lastly, the paper will discuss the possible as well as recommendations that will help in curbing the menace.
It should be noted that children with autism present an extreme case when it comes to patterns of development. They hardly initiate behaviors that will engage others in social interactions with them. For instance, they always express a lack of interest in sharing things with others; they are always frowning and rarely express pleasure or draw attention hence making it hard for parents especially mothers of such children to smile in reply to the smile of their child as is always the case with normal children. As a result, parents are forced to employ a mechanism of maintaining their child’s focus of attention. For example, they may use a physical control like holding the child on their lap while playing. Experts who offer cheap essay writing services at Edudorm indicates that there is always the feeling of depression and stress due to the failure of the child to connect with the mother since they are always so close with the child on a daily basis making her smile less. Parents always find such children to be difficult temperamentally, child moods; adaptability makes it hard for parents in their parental roles and often brings confusion in the family. These parents are often made to feel they are not competent to bring up the child and that they have less than they expected. There are issues with parental connections with the child as well as their social life because they feel the child needs control of their life and they cannot do something new concerning their lives since most times they are always feeling guilty and bad about the situation.
There are many challenges that come with raising autism children and research indicates that parents with autistic children lead more stressful lives compared to normal parents or even those whose children have other forms of disabilities (Dabrowska & Pisula, 2010). Socialization of the children is considered as one of the basic roles of mothers. Mothers feel very frustrated when handling their autism children. They record feelings of alienation, cannot comfortably interact with other mothers and are segregated by other mothers who feel they are different from them. Besides, it has been hard on mothers to teach children things they are not familiar with. Hastings and Johnson (2001) indicate advanced stress in both parents of autism children who were school aged due to the impairments in communication, cognitive abilities as well as poor social relations between child and parent in research conducted on 30 mothers and 11 fathers.
Larson (2010) identifies with mothers who report that their care giving to such children is more like a burden and they feel extremely fatigued and stressed in their oversight roles on such children during their participation in social activities as well as managing their behaviors. On the other hand, (Davis & Charter, 2008) report that fathers found it difficult to interact with their children suffering from autism. Externalized behaviors of these children like tantrums or peculiar vocalizations made most fathers uncomfortable in managing especially in public places. The child’s inability to eat or even self-regulate emotions, as well as resistance to touch or being held, presents stressful circumstances in Parenting children with autism.
Behaviors demonstrated by autism children, for instance, regulatory problems like eating, emotional destabilization as well as sleeping irregularities puts Parenting children with autism in very stressful positions (Degangi et al. 2000; Dominick et al. 2007) as well as an increase in psychological stress (Abbeduto et al., 2004).Also, parental mental health has adversely been affected due to the depression they go through in bringing up children with autism (Maxted et al. 2005). Tutors who offer nursing essay help at Edudorm essay writing service acknowledges that parents who are poor tend to feel stressed since they have to provide more for their children in such conditions. Costs associated with this kind of disability including health care, education, rehabilitation, payment of caregivers as well as transportation is approximated as $90 billion yearly (ASA, 2008). A study by Wiggs and Stores (2001) has identified parents with autistic children undergoing treatment for sleep problems.
Research Analysis on Parenting Children with Autism
There are various researchers who have analyzed parenting children with autism which this study will mainly analyze. Davis & Carter, (2008) conducted thorough research on what parents with autistic children go through and challenges they face when dealing with their children. Children selected for this study were those that both parents participated in the interviews and questionnaires. The two came up with 20 questionnaires that were filled by both parents of the children with autism. Fathers only answered the questionnaires while mothers were required to answer the questionnaires and participate in the interviews as well. The second selection of children involved one child per family whereby each parent gave their own observations regarding their children independently. The limitation of this study was that it gave more attention to mothers than fathers of the child since it is only mothers that were interviewed and not fathers as well. Also, the research only concentrated on married couples and left out single parents or those that had divorced. Besides, parents who had autism were not sampled and included in the research. The research was very limited and was not wide enough since it only concentrated on a small clinical group. On the other hand, it is evident that the work of most researchers on parenting children with autism is centered on mothers and leaving out or rather providing too little on parenting by fathers of such children (Estes et al., 2009).
Theoretical Explanation on Parenting Children with Autism
This paper will be centered on the refrigerator mother theory. The term refrigerator mother came about in the 40s, according to Synapse, (n.d.). It was used as a sticky tag for mothers of children with autism. These parents were subject to criticism for the mannerisms displayed by their children, which society thought were out of the ordinary (Moffit, 2011). People thought that mothers were responsible for the abnormal behaviors in their children due to their standoffishness. Many mothers suffered from remorse, blame, and self-doubt. This went on from the 40s to beyond the 70s. Bruno Bettelheim, who was a professor at the University of Chicago scientifically, explained the relationship between mothers and autism and stated that mothers, who were cold, cut off and snobbish caused a barrier between them and their baby thus denying the kids a chance to bond properly. Leo Kanner was another psychiatrist who had suggested that autism was caused by the lack of maternal warmth to the child by the mother, in 1943 (Synapse, n.d.).
“Refrigerator Mother” theory persisted on to the 90s and was maintained by Alice Miller. Miller argued that autism was psychogenic. Unlike her predecessors, Miller conducted research before coming to her conclusion. She visited many therapy centers for autism in the country as she listened to the stories given by children who had autism. According to her, the attitude of parents was responsible for their children’s mental wellness and joyous physical upbringing.
Miller did an excellent job of first conducting research. However, she only concentrated on therapy centers for autism. We do not see her taking her research to homes that have children suffering from this disorder. Such research would enable her to offer a balanced view and conclusion to society. Authors who offer nursing case study help at Edudorm essay writing service points that at the same time, the children who are giving stories in the facility are facing mental challenges. We have at one time been in a situation where an average child reported a false claim to his/her mother claiming being harassed by another. This could also be the case with some the stories by these young kids. While it would be wrong to disregard their stories, it would also be important to consider conducting an interview with a close relative or friends.
Jay Joseph also released a book in 2006 that challenges the existing genetic theory on autism. According to Joseph, it is clear that the current theory is weak as it does not offer any substantial explanation, though many almost accepted it. Joseph argues that the theory mainly focuses on family studies and is not able to straighten out the political manipulations of genes and environment. Additionally, the four small twin studies conducted for this are methodically flawed which renders them incapable of explaining this theory. In the years that have followed, researchers that have been done have proved futile.
Community Interventions on Parenting Children with Autism
Community support has always existed for parents with autism children. Research has shown that most of this intervention services provided apply commonly and equally to all other forms of disabilities. There are established programs for parents with such children whereby they are trained on employing specific behavioral management skills, communication skills as well as interactive skills. These programs have not been very effective due to the unresponsive nature of most parents, the lack of collaboration due to stress and depression they undergo in bringing up such children, poverty that makes it hard for them to use the highly controlled strategies in order to manage the behavioral problems with their children. However, community interventions that have been able to offer specific programs specifically designed for autism, incorporated problem-solving sessions, communication skills, and self-control among others that will help these parents implement programs that will benefit their children when these social barriers are done away with (Webster-Stratton and Reid, 2003) have gone a long way in achieving their objective. Mentors who offer medical case study help at Edudorm essay writing service recognizes that besides, parents are being taught more realistic as well as naturalistic strategies to use on their children that are applicable in-home settings, reduced the hours of training since these parents need time with their children and there is parental involvement at all levels from grass root to delivery that has ensured satisfaction as well as collaboration making parenting children with autism easier for such children.
Recommendations on Parenting Children with Autism
a) Establishment of family-based centers in every community where parents can be trained on strategies to develop in interacting with their children while focusing on best homemade programs
b) Participation of parents as well as caregivers in the entire process of formulation and running of such community organizations to reflect their needs and interests as well as cooperation
c) Establishment of home program intervention.
Conclusion
As much as raising children adds quality to the life of every parent, It is evident that families who have children with autism live complex and stressful lives due to the economic, social as well as physical challenges that come along in raising such children. However, these challenges vary and are differentiated between mothers and fathers. Interventions that are geared towards improving parent-child interactions should be encouraged at all costs. Autism is a social problem and teaching parents’ mechanisms on how to communicate, manage as well as accepting their children will go a long way in lightening parental responsibilities for parents with autistic children. As parents learn more about how to go about the situation, the negative effects as a result of this condition will tend to diminish. To be more effective, these programs need involve both parents to the child that is the father and the mother and be designed to meet home-based environment.
References
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