Positive Experiences with Autism

Research on Stress and Autism 

           

            I found an article on Autism and stress for one of my University courses that I felt was the perfect blog post.  This is important research because it explores a correlation between parents positive experiences with their autistic children and stress levels. Previously there has been research on Autism in preschools and the stress levels of parents. But this is one of the first of research on school aged children with Autism and the stress level of parents (Kafitz, Gragg, Orr, 2010). This research I feel will encourage parents of Autistic children to look for the positive in their experiences, it may help their stress levels. With so much required in the care of a Special Needs child one cannot help being stressed out. It was comforting to me that simple positive experiences with your child could reduce stress so significantly. Also it has a unique sample of fathers with autistic children which is rare, since mothers are the ones who normally participate in studies of Autism (Kafitz, Gragg, Orr, 2010).

            The study was done on 23 couples and their children with Autism, Aspergers ( on the Autism Spectrum), or PDD ( also on the autism spectrum). All of the subjects were from Canada and had differing ethnic origins. This was very good thinking because you know that the final research applies to a bigger group of parents with Autistic children. Then the children in the study ranged from 5-11 years and there was a lot more boys in the study then girls. The reason there was so many more boys is because the ratio of autistic boys to girls is 4:1. The method used was surveying each couple separately on their stress levels (Kafitz, Gragg, Orr, 2010).  Then they surveyed them separately on their experiences of positive contribution from the disabled child.  All of the participants were recruited through either support groups or from speech and language pathologists of the Autistic child (Kafitz, Gragg, Orr, 2010). This was a great idea so that you knew they were looking for help and support for the situation in the home with their Special Needs child.

            The results of the study were that mothers, more than fathers had positive experiences from the child with disability. They also found a negative correlation between the positive contributions of the disabled child and the amount of stress. Meaning the more positive contributions reported the lower the stress level. They really noticed that mothers were able to list a lot more positive contributions than the fathers in the study.            

            The hypothesis according to the researchers  was (Kafitz, Gragg, Orr, 2010) “a focus on positive experiences may buffer against negative well-being.”  The direction is clear that we can look at the positive contributions from the child and then it lowers the stress level. I loved that they were able to find a difference in the way parents (mothers and fathers) thought about their child enabled them to either increase or decrease their stress. So there is a lesson for you, if you are positive about your interactions with your Special Needs child your stress can be reduced. This also means that you and the way you think are the deciding factor in how wonderful your life can be with your Special Little one.

            I know that my experience with my Darling Special Needs Child has been difficult but full of wonderful memories and interactions. I love my boy, and hope that I can always see positive in our experiences, since it has such great benefits.

-Crystal-

REFERENCES

Kayfitz, Adam D.; Gragg, Marcia N.; Orr, R. Robert. Positive experiences of mothers and fathers             of children with autism. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities 2010, 23,        337–343. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database.

Wong, Virginia C. N.; Kwan, Queenie K. Randomized controlled trial for early intervention for     autism: a pilot study of autism 1-2-3 project.  Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, Jun2010, Vol. 40 Issue 6, p677-688. Retrieved September 27, 2011, from Academic Search Premier database.