Special Needs: Parenting a Child with High Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome Essay Example

How does the disability impact the family? How can they become a more resilient and healthy family and where do parents turn to for help? Problems with Parenting Parenting any child can create lots of stress, but parenting a child with AS is a very different experience.

There are daily stresses from the day-to-day tasks of caring for the child. The way the parent's socialize and communicate with everyone around them has altered, especially when it comes to relationships.The relationships that an AS child has with caregiver, peers, and educators are very different from that of a neurotypical child. They are very often misunderstood because they look "normal" but have these eccentric social behaviors (Sansosti & Powell- Smith, 2006). According to Dunn, Burbine, Boweres, and Tantleff-Dunn (2001), parents of children with the ASD experience more stress and are more subject to negative outcomes than other parents with non-disabled children and parents of children with other disabilities. Parenting style and expectations change for the family when the child has a disability.

The difficulty they face are the additional duties, that are needed for there child. The everyday challenges the parent faces; such as integrating the child successfully into the school environment, havig playmates, and looking at the child for what he is and not for what he is not. The parents need to make sure that they can cope emotionally in order to be able to advocate for their child. These parents have to adjust to their child's disability, emotionally, socially, and economically. They way the parents view themselves in society, with their partner, friends, and educators are very different with a neurotypical child.Parents have to put up

with judgmental statements from society in regards of their child's disability.

Family Issues Cashin (2004) interviewed nine parents with a diagnoses of ASD or AS, with age ranging of four to nine years. The problems that these parents faced were profound changes to self, how others view them as a parent, having less social contact and experiencing stress by the amount of financial cost required to meet the needs of the child who has a disability. It was discovered that there is little time or energy to pursue a healthy relationship with a partner or friend.These parents experience more stress than those parents of children with other types of disabilities (Dunn, Burbine, Bowers, & Tantleff-Dunn, 2001).

These are some of the issues that parents have when dealing with a child that has ASD. Research (Thoits, 1995, as cited in Gray, 2003) on the issue of parents with high functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome shows how parents cope with their child's disability. The mother and the father each draws from different resources to cope with how they react toward their child. Furthermore, the research has shown that coping strategies varies for women and men.In this study the fathers took on a more traditional role when it came to rearing their child.

Fathers are often concerned about not being a source of strength for the other mate. Fathers contemplate internally, personally and with their spouse when it comes to their child's disability. Children with special needs have a profound influence on their father's lives. Many fathers described increased empathy, and patience.

The fathers felt that they had to put their lives in better perspective. Fathers often report that working with their

child's mother to meet the needs of the child, drawing from each other's strengths and preferences.The mothers take on all the responsibilities when it comes to there daily needs. The mothers make sure that the child's daily needs are met socially, emotionally, and educationally. Mothers have the desire to talk it out with someone, especially their mate and be around other parents that are going through a similar situation.

Gray (2003) states that even among dual income couples, women still do the housework and take care of the children. With the added special needs child it put more pressure and stress on the women.They are the ones that make and take the child to medical appointments, social class, and talk to the school officials when there is a need. Unfortunately, the women will give up their career in order to manage the family.

At the same time they are starting a new career, to become a better advocate and how to gain more knowledge about their child's disability. This type of stress on the couple often ends in divorce. The divorce rates in these families are over 80% in the United States (Center for Disease Control, 2002, as cited in Sansosti & Powell-Smith, 2006)

T. Atwood (personal communication, October 14, 2006) "... it is not the child's disability that handicaps and disintegrates families; it is the way they react to it and to each other" (Dickman & Gordon, 1985 as cited by Atwood). Binger (2006) states those teaching and guiding children is perhaps the greatest concern that parents have and they want to do their best to teach behaviors, values and beliefs.

Parents need to be assertive, but not

intrusive and restrictive. They should be more supportive rather than punitive (Eastin, Greenber, & Hofschire, 2006).Limitations and areas for further investigation Cashin (2004) interviewed nine parents of children, in the age range of four to ten years with a diagnosis of Autistic Disorder or Asperger's Disorder. As it is common with lots of studies that involve voluntary sampling techniques, one can not be sure that these small samplings of nine parents being interviewed can represent all parents that are experiencing parenting a child with ASD or AS. However, Cashin did get great feedback from the nine interviews, an insight on how parents experience parenting a child with autism.

A larger sample and different family structure such as different cultures, traditional vs. non-traditional couples, etc. , needs to be further investigated. Coping Strategies Pain (1999) conducted a study with 20 parents with children with disabilities ranging from physical to learning disabilities. His attempt was to study the role of information the parents received in order to be able to cope with their child's needs.

His study found that, professionals are the one that are the common source for information for these parents.This information gave the family a better understanding in what they are dealing with and this helped them feel more in control. This control helped the parents successfully raise their special needs child. According to Ramey, DeLuca, & Echols, (2003), to be resilient as a family one needs to understand that the family needs to establish active, healthy, and appropriate ways of meeting the needs of an exceptional child.

It is important to make sure that everyone in the family has their needs met. It is essential to

include the special needs child in a creative way.This will help balance the harmony within the family unit. There are many constructive actions the family can take right away, to help promote a healthy family unit.

There are many sources of help, communication, and reassurance. Seek out other parents or support group that is dealing with the same disability. Communicate with anyone that is in contact with your child, such as caregivers, teachers, peers, and the community. Families that are resilient seek professional help, they embrace respite, they develop a support network and they advocate for their family.

ConclusionIt is important to establish what parenting style needs to be applied and the parent must have a firm understanding of the child's disability. The child with AS has great difficulties with there social skills. The lack of meaningful social interaction is the key indicator to parents that they should change their parenting and teaching techniques. Family issues; especially when it comes to the family unit will be different with an exceptional child. The problems parents have when dealing with a child that has special needs can be exhausting. The parenting style and family unit has been altered.

Social relationships with spouse and friends have changed. Reaching out to local organization and other parents that have gone through this will help promote resilience. This paper examines how a parent needs to modify their parenting styles when it comes to having a child with high functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome. This paper is written in hope that it will help new families that just have started a new journey with their exceptional child, and also be useful to professionals who work

with these families. There is more research needed when it comes to Asperger's syndrome or high functioning autistic children.

Asperger syndrome is categorized under autism but it is under a special category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Fourth Edition. The study should look at the difference between autism and Asperger's syndrome and how the two compare.

References

• Bigner, J. J. (2006).
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