Autism: Impact on Parents and Siblings
Autism is a neuropsychiatric disorder that disrupts the typical development of social, communicative and cognitive skills. These symptoms often appear within the first three years of the child's life. In the social domain, autistic individuals are unable to form typical peer relationships and interact reciprocally with others. They often exhibit strange behavior that alienates them from others. Communicative delays are characterized by a delay or lack of language. In the case of verbal individuals, they are unable to start or maintain a conversation; their speech is characterized by echolalia (repetitive speech) and idiosyncratic language. The development of their cognitive skills is limited because of their restricted range of interests and activities. They tend to specialize in limited activities and also engage in repetitive motor activities that do not have a functional purpose, such as hand flapping and body rocking ("Practice Parameters," 1999, p. 36).
Because these symptoms will change as the autistic child grows older, parents and other professionals involved need to be alert to the developments in order to provide an appropriate program for their autistic child ("Practice Parameters," 1999, p. 32). For parents, living with an autistic child can result in stress and depression ("Practice Parameters," 1999, p. 45). They not only face the daily difficulties of raising an autistic child, they also have to devote a lot of time and effort in collaborating with specialists and schools. In fact, most of the time is spent on the phone looking for the right specialists and schools for their autistic child. When there are siblings, parents also have the added burden of taking care of them under tremendous stress and pressure and feeling guilty about neglecting them.
Difficulties faced by parents during stages of
Because of the variety of developmental disorders that share common symp...