The Symptoms of Autism May Vary Greatly (Essay Sample)

The Symptoms of Autism May Vary Greatly
Chapter A – Introduction
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a difficult diagnosis for the child, parents, and siblings. The symptoms of autism may vary greatly. ASD is associated with unusual or improper actions, communication difficulties, and repetitive routines and rituals (Nicolay & Marino, 2017). This may make life difficult for the whole family. Autism impacts families in various ways, from the emotional hardship of the first diagnosis to the continuous financial stress of costly treatments and therapies. Because of the child's sluggish mental development, autistic children's parents confront enormous and never-ending obstacles. These difficulties manifest as stress and other unpleasant psychological effects. Parenting an autistic child adds additional challenges due to the child's social and behavioral difficulties (Karst & Van Hecke, 2012).
Furthermore, the difficulties are exacerbated by compassion and a lack of public knowledge of the condition. Coping with these pressures may result in healthier marriages and family relationships, but it requires much effort and a solid support system. On the plus side, living with an autistic child may broaden perspectives, foster family togetherness, raise family members' knowledge of their strength of character, and create links to community organizations (Bennie, 2019). On the negative side, this child will need much attention, physical and emotional demands, and financial resources to make their life comfortable. However, the effects will be determined by the child's health and severity and the mental, physical, and financial resources available to care for the young person. This study aims to analyze how autism spectrum disorder impacts families from a financial, emotional, and social perspective.
Chapter B: Literature Review
Golumbek (2007) highlights that autism is a neurological disorder that alters how a child's brain functions. It is a common developmental condition in children before they reach three years. Because autism impacts a child's capacity to speak and connect with others, a child with autism cannot communicate their needs like other normal children. As a result, parents and caregivers are forced to speculate on what the child may be asking for. However, when they cannot determine what the child needs, both the child and the caregiver get irritated (Russell, 2014). Fleury and Chaxiong, 92020) add that the child will believe that the caregiver is not meeting their requirements, whereas the caregiver will be irritated because they cannot discern what the child wants. A child with autism might get irritated to the point of being angry and perhaps harming themselves, putting the child's and the whole family's lives in danger.
Many studies have shown that autistic children's parents/caregivers increasingly complain of psychological anguish, anxiety, and depression. According to one research, the ratio of anxiety and depression is high in autistic children's parents (Merkaj et al., 2013). Furthermore, in numerous additional types of research on autistic children's parents, the children's violent and aggressive behavior was most significantly connected to parent stress, compared to other autism characteristics like severe developmental delay (Sharpley & Bitsika, 2018). Also, a child with autistic symptoms leads his family to experience various degrees of anguish; the suffering is a significant level of mental, emotional, and financial distress.
A child with autism struggles with a rigorous deficiency in social interactions, creative imagination, effective communication, and constrained or odd behavior that negatively affects the family's life, including everyday tasks, school life, relationships with family, and peer groups (Begum & Mamin, 2019). The family is the most fundamental and significant element in any culture, and children are an integral component of the family unit, making it dynamic with differences driven by children. The presence of a child in a household alters parental responsibility. When a child is diagnosed with unusual problems, the whole family adopts a new and different approach. The new parental approach tries to cope with the challenges resulting from a child with autism. Nonetheless, every newborn child requires some time to acclimatize to their newfound surroundings, but an autistic child might produce a challenging scenario owing to odd social behavior and trouble interacting in society. The transition of such a child may expose the parents too poor mental health as a consequence of mental, emotional, and financial stress.
In many circumstances, parents must be active in the care of children with permanent autistic disorder, and in the majority of instances, parents are the captives of their children's conduct and unruly attitude (Yates & Le Couteur, 2016). Parents of such a child must go through an explanation period of the autistic child's conduct. According to other research, rationalizing the conduct of children with autism is a difficult task that adds to their stress. Furthermore, explaining and justifying the autistic child's odd conduct makes parents feel inadequate. As main caregivers, parents must strive to spend a significant amount of time balancing the needs of children with autism and non-autistic children.
According to studies, the care and education of autistic children leave parents exhausted and unhappy, and this melancholy undoubtedly affects their professional and personal conduct (Bailey, 2008). Fulfilling the demands of autistic children frequently requires a significant amount of time, where they must compromise their social relationships with other members of their family, relatives, and the community. Parents must experience bodily trauma due to their children's physical aggressiveness. Despite proper parental attention and assistance, autistic children often retain their behavior and performance problems, and community members' awareness and understanding of autism are very limited, causing parents to be more nervous about validating their children's behavior. As a consequence of the negative repercussions of having an autistic child, parents are more concerned about their child's conduct. Parents must educate, teach, and often interact with their children, and counseling assistance is essential to regulate the inadequacies in many aspects of the issue. According to a poll, parents are more frustrated and stressed about providing education to children with autism; also, autistic children's parents find it very hard to get suitable educational assistance for their children when compared to other children.
According to one research, autistic children's parents are ranked high in the aggravation range at 55% than parents of non-autistic but sluggish development issue children and parents of children with exceptional healthcare requirements who do not have any developmental problems (Johnson, 2016). Conversely, among the autism group, the %age of parents with high aggravation is 66% for parents with children requiring special assistance, whereas 28% is without any issues. Studies on the psychosocial modification of families with autistic children, like family life, marital gratification, and social support in families with autistic children, yielded equally dubious findings (Henderson & Vandenberg, 1992). Some results suggest higher family anguish, inadequate marital satisfaction, and improper social care, whilst others demonstrate that the function of such households with autistic children is not a larger concern than social support. Studies on parents' mental health during the diagnoses and planning phases revealed that during the screening and planning processes, parents experience extreme stress because statutory diagnosis takes an unusually long time, and there is very small parental participation in care and education initiatives. Parents' stress and depression associated with their child's treatment and education process, including growth, alter with time, although the amount of stress remains constant, whilst the incidence of depression varies depending on the child's qualities.
Since many autistic children aren't born with signs or indications such as physiological, coping styles, and intellectual impairments, families face bewilderment, disbelief, and pessimism once their child is diagnosed with autism (Bailey, 2014). Various coping methods are proposed for families, particularly mothers, to provide improved care for their children. Unity among mothers has been found as a source of coping mechanism for a few mothers. Moreover, informal assistance from friends, family, and the community is nonprofessional yet beneficial, and depression among autistic children's parents is greatly decreased. The research was conducted to investigate the causes of parents' stress. The outcomes of the study revealed that 39 % of respondents, albeit a small percentage age of the population, indicated concern as a consequence of conventional education programs for their children with autism. Nonetheless, school education has always been difficult for parents, and unhappiness with the school and staff is seen as another source of anxiety among autistic children's parents. Conversely, lower stress is associated with the school's readiness to prioritize parent concerns and viewpoints, as well as a positive and adaptable reply to the child's requirements and parental fulfilment. However, many parents who expressed pleasure with school provision were also distressed and unhappy.