Understanding Social Support for Parents of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Understanding Social Support for Parents of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Author: Suzanne Marie Robinson

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Parenting an individual with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is uniquely challenging and enhancing resources like social support is important for promoting well-being. Within the field of ASD, social support has generally been measured broadly and studies have focused on a single facet of social support rather than incorporating different components, such as received and perceived support. It is unclear how received and perceived support uniquely relate to parent well-being. We also know very little about the factors that lead to higher levels of perceived social support or the potential reciprocal relationship social support has with other factors for parents of children with ASD. With a sample of 249 caregivers of individuals with ASD, this study assessed the strength of association between received and perceived social support, and compared the stress-buffering effects of both support types. This study also assessed the reciprocal relationships between perceived social support and parent perceived stress, self-efficacy, and child behaviour problems across a one-year period using three time points. Results showed perceived and received support were related but distinct concepts. When examined together in a single model, perceived support was significantly associated with stress and received support was not. Neither social support measure significantly moderated the association between stressors and stress. The longitudinal analyses showed less evidence for reciprocal relationships than hypothesized. There was some evidence for a reciprocal relationship between self-efficacy and perceived social support, but significant bi-directional associations were not observed between perceived social support and child behaviour problems or between perceived support and stress. Baseline perceived social support significantly predicted 6-month child behaviour and 6-month stress, but neither of those significantly predicted social support. This study adds to our understanding of social support and clarifies how perceived social support relates to other family factors longitudinally.


Autism and the Family: Understanding and Supporting Parents and Siblings

Autism and the Family: Understanding and Supporting Parents and Siblings

Author: Kate E. Fiske

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2017-02-07

Total Pages: 275

ISBN-13: 0393710564

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Ready-to-implement resources and approaches for effective professional care in school and clinical settings. The reverberations of autism spectrum disorders among parents and siblings can be complex. Parents may grapple with the impact of their child's initial diagnosis, wrestle with the tension between their professional ambitions and family obligations, and labor to maintain a healthy union with their partners. Brothers and sisters may be given less attention, asked to assume a more adult role than they feel ready for, or strive for meaningful connection and communication with their sibling and parents. Although the energy of clinicians, teachers, and other professionals working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder is often focused intensively on the child who is diagnosed, the practitioner can also be an invaluable resource for the child's family. Drawing upon clinical research and firsthand family interviews, this book helps clinicians understand the experiences of parents and siblings of a child with ASD from the time of diagnosis through adulthood. It provides clear recommendations for sensitive, informed professional support. Step-by-step in each chapter, Fiske elucidates such vital subjects as: Understanding the experience of diagnosis Recognizing patterns of parent stress over time Appreciating and navigating the effects of ASD on relationships between parents Involving and providing support for siblings Integrating grandparents and other extended family in care and treatment Understanding a family's culture Identifying and developing effective coping strategies Building a strong rapport with parents and family Guiding parents in the treatment of autism And many more, including key takeaways for assisting families in managing feelings of grief and guilt, navigating support options, treatment resources, and related financial concerns, and calibrating the division of labor in the home. Autism and the Family supplies all the foundations necessary for professionals to understand the full impact of ASD on the child, siblings, and parents and cultivate an empathic, supportive approach to treatment for the entire family.


The Effects of Autism on the Family

The Effects of Autism on the Family

Author: Eric Schopler

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1489922938

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As the oldest statewide program serving autistic people in the United States, North Carolina's Division TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren) has had a major impact on ser vices for these people and their families. As we move into our second decade, we are frequently questioned about all aspects of our procedures, techniques, and program. Of all the questions that are asked, however, the one that comes up most frequently and seems to set our program apart from others concerns the ways in which we work with families. To help answer this question we identified what we have found to be the major components in our parent-professional relationships, and we elaborate on these with the most current research informa tion, clinical insights, and community knowledge available through the expertise of our distinguished contributors. Our purpose was to collect the most recent information and to organize the resulting volume along the outlines of the par ent-professional relationship found most important in the TEACCH program. Thus, the four main sections of the book include these four major ways profes sionals work with parents: as their advocates, their trainers, their trainees, and their reciprocal emotional support source. To the extent this effort was success ful, we acknowledge that it is easier to organize book chapters along these dimensions than it is to provide their implementation in the field.


Handbook of Parent-Implemented Interventions for Very Young Children with Autism

Handbook of Parent-Implemented Interventions for Very Young Children with Autism

Author: Michael Siller

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-08-09

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 3319909940

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This handbook offers practical strategies and evidence-based parent-implemented interventions for very young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It explores this important subject within the context of rapidly increasing numbers of toddlers who are diagnosed with ASD during the second year of life. The handbook discusses how parents of young children with ASD can effectively be supported, taught, and coached to implement evidence-based parenting strategies and intervention techniques, and describes a broad range of developmentally appropriate programs at the family, community, and service delivery levels. In addition, the handbook examines individual differences in parenting cognitions, emotions, and practices and proposes strategies for supporting the varying capacities of diverse families to meet the needs of young children with ASD. Chapters provide diverse coverage, spanning cultural/socio-economic differences as well as differences in family structure; parenting cognitions, emotions, and practices; parental learning styles; and access to social support. Featured topics include: Supporting families of high-risk infants who have an older sibling with ASD. The use of video feedback strategies in parent-mediated early ASD intervention. The Incredible Years (IY) Parent Program for preschool children with ASD and language delays. Self-help for parents of children with ASD. The Family Implemented TEACCH for Toddlers (FITT) support model. Parent-implemented interventions for underserved families in Taiwan. Family and provider-based interventions in South Asia. The Handbook of Parent-Implemented Interventions for Very Young Children with Autism is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in clinical child, school, and developmental psychology, family studies, behavioral therapy, and social work as well as rehabilitation medicine/therapy, child and adolescent psychiatry, pediatrics, and special education/educational psychology.


Systemically Treating Autism

Systemically Treating Autism

Author: Brie Turns

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-02-18

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 1351393480

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Systemically Treating Autism provides a unique resource for family therapists and other mental health professionals who want to increase their understanding of families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through a combination of research, practical interventions, and case vignettes, this text covers the diagnosis of ASD, how ASD impacts the family, systemic theories that can be used when treating families with children with ASD, spirituality and cultural dynamics, and collaboration with other professionals. Providing a systemic framework for conceptualizing a diagnosis that is typically discussed from an individual perspective, this book guides mental health clinicians toward a better understanding of how they can help the entire family unit.


A Comprehensive Book on Autism Spectrum Disorders

A Comprehensive Book on Autism Spectrum Disorders

Author: Mohammad-Reza Mohammadi

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2011-09-15

Total Pages: 491

ISBN-13: 9533074949

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The aim of the book is to serve for clinical, practical, basic and scholarly practices. In twentyfive chapters it covers the most important topics related to Autism Spectrum Disorders in the efficient way and aims to be useful for health professionals in training or clinicians seeking an update. Different people with autism can have very different symptoms. Autism is considered to be a "spectrum" disorder, a group of disorders with similar features. Some people may experience merely mild disturbances, while the others have very serious symptoms. This book is aimed to be used as a textbook for child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship training and will serve as a reference for practicing psychologists, child and adolescent psychiatrists, general psychiatrists, pediatricians, child neurologists, nurses, social workers and family physicians. A free access to the full-text electronic version of the book via Intech reading platform at http://www.intechweb.org is a great bonus.


A Friend's and Relative's Guide to Supporting the Family with Autism

A Friend's and Relative's Guide to Supporting the Family with Autism

Author: Ann Palmer

Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

Published: 2012-04-15

Total Pages: 226

ISBN-13: 0857005677

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When a child is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), what the family really need, and often lack, is positive reassurance and understanding from those closest to them. This book is packed with advice on how extended family members and friends can provide the necessary support. Explaining the diagnosis and characteristics of ASD, this helpful guide uses examples from real families to illustrate the complex feelings that parents and each member of the family are likely to go through after a child is diagnosed. It gives practical tips on help that might be needed most, details the possible changes that will take place as the family adjusts and concludes with a comprehensive guide to other useful sources of information. This book will help strengthen relationships between parents and their extended family and friends, enabling a reliable support system to develop which will remain crucial to the child throughout their life.


Parenting Matters

Parenting Matters

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2016-11-21

Total Pages: 525

ISBN-13: 0309388570

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Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.


A Practical Guide to Autism

A Practical Guide to Autism

Author: Fred R. Volkmar

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2021-08-31

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 111968580X

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An accessible guide to the most recent information about autism The revised and updated second edition of A Practical Guide to Autism offers an authoritative guide to the diagnosis, assessment, and treatment of Autism/Autism Spectrum Disorder. Written by two highly regarded medical professionals, the book offers parents, family memberts, and teachers a useful review of the concept of autism, its diagnosis, and the most current treatments available. This comprehensive resource covers the range of the condition in infants, young, and school age children, adolescents, and adults. The authors explore evidence-based treatments and review of some of the alternative and complementary treatments proposed for autism. Information on educational programs and entitlement services are also provided. In addition, the book contains information on issues, such as medical care, medication use, safety, behavioral, and mental health problems. The book covers the range of ages and entire spectrum of autism and provides an introduction to the diagnostic concept. With the expanding number of treatments and interventions this book is a useful guide for all those involved in caring for individuals on the autism spectrum. This important guide: Offers lists of resources for parents and professionals compiled by experts in the field and reviewed by parents. Includes updated research that adheres to DSM-5 standards. Provides an accessible resource with succinct content delivery Contains new discussions on modern treatments that have been identified since the publication of the first edition. Written for parents, teachers, and caregivers, A Practical Guide to Autism, Second Edition offers an updated and expanded edition to the practical guide to autism.


Parenting Stress

Parenting Stress

Author: Kirby Deater-Deckard

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2008-10-01

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 0300133936

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All parents experience stress as they attempt to meet the challenges of caring for their children. This comprehensive book examines the causes and consequences of parenting distress, drawing on a wide array of findings in current empirical research. Kirby Deater-Deckard explores normal and pathological parenting stress, the influences of parents on their children as well as children on their parents, and the effects of biological and environmental factors. Beginning with an overview of theories of stress and coping, Deater-Deckard goes on to describe how parenting stress is linked with problems in adult and child health (emotional problems, developmental disorders, illness); parental behaviors (warmth, harsh discipline); and factors outside the family (marital quality, work roles, cultural influences). The book concludes with a useful review of coping strategies and interventions that have been demonstrated to alleviate parenting stress.