Classmate 1 Discussion 8:As a leader, identify and discuss some culturally competent strategies to forge positive relationships amidst differences.A leader should be authentic. Authentic leadership

Running head: PARENTING A CHILD WITH AUTISM 1

Parenting a Child With Autism

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Introduction

This document reveals how parents cope positively with the stress of bringing up a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Embodied in this document are the various scenarios in which parents, both male, and female, are affected by their child’s abnormal behavior and experiences. Parental stress is manifested in dynamic ways. Additionally, individual parents are affected differently by the relationship between children with autism and parental stress. Hence, it is not logical to generalize psychological acceptance to be the same for all parents who have children with autism. There are unique responses from both parents and autism patients. In this light, the relationship between both individuals is as dynamic as it can ever be. Also, some patients have severe cases of autism as compared to others. The level of parental stress on such scenarios tends to be higher are opposed to parents whom children have mild autism. Finally, the researcher identifies how parents can adapt to the stress that emanates from having a child with autism. How do these parents identify with positivity in the relationship with their autism patients?

Potential Research Topic

Parenting a child with Autism: The psychological acceptance and mindfulness mediated on the relationship between child behavior and parental stress. This research topic aims to identify the various disparities that emerge from parents who have children with autism. Children with dysfunction behavior traits tend to elicit parental stress in various ways. This disparity is manifested in both male and female parents or caregivers of the patient. Male caregivers are often left to wonder if their children with ever are normal while female caregivers are often plagued with the thought of their children suffering under the condition. This paper expounds more on this topic accordingly below.

Research Problem/Phenomenon of Interest

The problem statement in this study is revealing how caregivers to children with autism cope with the distressing experiences brought by the condition. The research problem for this study is to identify if caregivers accept the stress and difficulty of helping and caring for their autism children. Such difficulties may include societal discrimination, financial challenges, speech enhancement training and therapy for the patient, and stress among other issues. This research aims at confirming how these parents and caregivers cope with their autism patients and whether there are positive experiences that are elicited from the relationship. This problem is rampant in the context of the relationship between parental stress and children's behavior. Each caregiver goes through some level of stress or setback in their journey of caring for their autism patients. For example, caregivers often have to give up on their careers or vision of future endeavors to stay back home and care for their children. Is it worth the sacrifice to give up on their aspirations? And how are they able to cope and improve their relationship with their autism patient? It is also important to identify the benefits that arise from a positive relationship between the caregiver and their autism patient.

Glynn (2015) identifies that autism patients vary. Autism Spectrum Disorder patients display different levels of intelligence and cognitive function. This range is evident in the range of gifted autism patients to those who are severely challenged. The parental stress for the two sets of parents with such patients will also differ. The behavioral challenge of the severely affected child will be much harder to cope with for the parent or caregiver. The parents will be required to give more attention to their severely affected child. Additionally, more finances will be needed to cope with the dysfunctional patient. Extreme withdrawals are also prevalent in children with autism. Just as they struggle with conforming to normal behavior autism patients also endure extreme withdrawals that are detrimental to their relationship with their caregivers (Weilauf et al, 2014).

This instance is magnified in regions with low awareness and regional growth. This is especially true with developing communities where traditional cultures are still the main pillars of society. Hence, parents in such regions are not well aware of how to deal with or understand their autism children. The relationship between the caregiver and their child ultimately deteriorates because the parent is limited in offering the maximum support to their child. These regions are also engulfed in upbringing problems that emanate from extreme parental stress and financial constraints (Zaidman-Zait et al, 2016). Thus the quality of service by the caregivers to their autism patients below the recommended standards. Low service upbringing will ultimately lead to stagnated growth for the autism patient in the quest to achieve cognitive freedom. Parental stress also follows suite with parents feeling that their kids will never be normal and that they will continue to suffer for the rest of their lives (McStay et al, 2014).

Parental acceptance of their autistic children is just the beginning of the road to psychological acceptance. Parental stress leads to other diseases. Stress has been identified to be a leading cause of diseases related to emotional balance for example Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Parental acceptance of their children’s predicament is a major step towards the elimination of parental stress that caretakers endure. Acceptance, however, may prove to be a challenging aspect if society lacks awareness (Hayes, Watson, 2013). The segregation of parents who have children with autism acts against their desire to accept their children’s autism situation. Parental acceptance also aids to nurture the relationship between the caregiver and the autism patient. Both the parent and autism child need to be considered in the trials of autism interventions (Estes, Swain, MaDuffie, 2019). This is because both parties are crucial players in the relationship between child behavior and parental stress.

According to Cidav, Marcus, Mandel,(2012), caregivers face a lot of stressful scenarios that emanate from the special education and treatment interventions their autism children go through. Coping with this stress can prove to be easier once caregivers go through social training and support (Estel et al, 2013). Social support is best offered by medical professionals and experts. By offering awareness of basic relational skills, parents and caregivers can easily advance their relationship with autism children. This also helps the caregivers to improve their understanding of autism children's behavior for example problematic communication. Com (2014) states that autism patients face challenges in repetitive behaviors, nonverbal and verbal communication, and challenges in social skills. The relationship greatly improves once the caregiver can resolve the child’s issues effectively.

Spouses also play an important role in the relationship between them and their autism patients. The wellbeing of the spousal relationship is a forerunner in the success of psychological acceptance in the relationship between autism patients and parent stress. Seeking professional assistance to resolve spousal issues is a leading phenomenon that aids in the advancement of the spouse's relationship with their autism children (Lize et al, 2014). A study conducted in Singapore indicated that parental stress is easily predictable once there is a collaboration between spouses and their professional consultants. Professional consultants also aid in how the parents cope with autism in their children. According to Glynn (2015), there are different coping mechanisms for coping with parental stress. For example, bonding with animals, engaging in special diets, or seeking mental help.

Psychological acceptance of parental stress and child behavior is greatly enhanced by the collaboration of parents, patients, and teachers. A study conducted by Brezis et al (2015) indicates that a majority of parents fear the idea of their children developing Autism Spectrum Disorder. Young children with autism disorder should begin awareness at a tender age. Both caregivers and teachers play an immense role in the awareness journey of the child. For example, the early intervention of therapies like occupational therapy and speech therapy is a major step to improving the relationship between child behavior and parental stress.

References

Autism Speaks. Com. (2016). What is Autism? Retrieved From https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism

Brezis, R. S., Weisner, T. S., Daley, T. C., Singhal, N., Barua, M., & Chollera, S. P. (2015). Parenting a child with autism in India: Narratives before and after a parent-child intervention program. Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry, 39(2), 277-298.

Estes, A., Olson, E., Sullivan, K., Greenson, J., Winter, J., Dawson, G., & Munson, J. (2013). Parenting-related stress and psychological distress in mothers of toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Brain and Development, 35(2), 133-138.

Estes, A., Swain, D. M., & MacDuffie, K. E. (2019). The Effects of Early Autism Intervention on Parents and Family Adaptive Functioning. Pediatric Medicine (Hong Kong, China). 2(21). DOI:10.21037/pm.2019.05.05. Retrieved From https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6776235/

Glynn, K. A. (2015). Predictors of parenting practices in parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

Hayes, S. A., & Watson, S. L. (2013). The impact of parenting stress: A meta-analysis of studies comparing the experience of parenting stress in parents of children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 43(3), 629-642.

Lize, S. E., Andrews, A. B., Whitaker, P., Shapiro, C., & Nelson, N. (2014). Exploring adaptation and fidelity in parenting program implementation: Implications for practice with families. Journal of Family Strengths, 14(1), 8.

May, C., Fletcher, R., Dempsey, I., & Newman, L. (2015). Modeling relations among coparenting quality, autism-specific parenting self-efficacy, and parenting stress in mothers and fathers of children with ASD. Parenting, 15(2), 119-133.

McStay, R. L., Dissanayake, C., Scheeren, A., Koot, H. M., & Begeer, S. (2014). Parenting stress and autism: The role of age, autism severity, quality of life, and problem behavior of children and adolescents with autism. Autism, 18(5), 502-510.

Weitlauf, A. S., Vehorn, A. C., Taylor, J. L., & Warren, Z. E. (2014). Relationship satisfaction, parenting stress, and depression in mothers of children with autism. Autism, 18(2), 194-198.

Zaidman-Zait, A., Mirenda, P., Duku, E., Vaillancourt, T., Smith, I. M., Szatmari, P., ... & Zwaigenbaum, L. (2016). Impact of personal and social resources on parenting stress in mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 1362361316633033.