Psychosocial support for families of children with autism
Expand view
[Author's abstract]: This paper draws attention to the stress levels and coping strategies used, in the families of children with autism. Differences in the stressors perceived and coping strategies adopted by the father, mother and siblings of a child with autism have been discussed. Given that pre-intervention parental stress levels predict the success of early intervention programmes and determine the prognosis, the paper highlights the importance as well as the lack of providing psychosocial support to the families of children with autism. The authors have illustrated various ways of delivering effective support services for parents. The article progresses from child-centred, professional dependence for service delivery to developing strategies that are family centred and encourage active participation of parents of children with autism themselves. The paper also draws attention to the prevailing scenario of autism in India.