Autism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Autism - Essay Example It is because of these reasons that autism has been deemed as one of the most complex and difficult developmental disorders with which families might have to deal with and family members of such children are often perceived to experience negative psychological effects (Gupta & Singhal, 2005). Dealing with traumatic events that are outside one’s control is one of the biggest challenges of life. With no possibility of lessening or eradicating the causes of stress, such circumstances require tactics where one transforms the self to fit the situation. It is important to understand the ways in which families deal with such circumstances as these are essential to cognitive paradigms of stress and coping frequently applied to families of children with disorders. Interventions concentrating on parents’ coping mechanisms have revealed encouraging results. These treatments utilize concepts from stress and coping paradigms to enhance parent education in problem solving and decisio n-making, communicative abilities, ability to contact and make use of social networks, and coping mechanisms such as encouraging self-statements, self-praise and relaxation (Gupta & Singhal 2005). A number of factors effect families’ experience of having a young individual with certain mental, emotional or physical disability and it is significant to keep in mind the distinctive requirements of each family, when deciding on the type of support being provided. Various factors such as cultural values of the family, socio-economic status, level of the disability, and amount of social support, type of family structure, and geographic location are significant when formulating and applying effective treatment programmes. All or any of these factors can improve or restrict the success of a treatment and emphasize the need for individualization. Thus the amount and kind of programs should be according to the needs of the individual family unit (Gupta & Singhal 2005). Research suggest s that the number of children being red-flagged with autism is increasing. This increase might be to some extent due to enhanced assessment techniques or better knowledge of autism and other developmental disorders and of behaviours of autistic children. This disturbing increase in the number of children evidently requires for added facilities to fulfil the needs of these children and their families (Barnard, et al. 2002). From the developmental systems perspective, children are members of numerous social networks. These networks are created and are implemented by socio-cultural beliefs. Vygotsky, in relation to people with developmental disorders, suggested that the various aspects of development are quite similar in people with mental retardation and other disorders. He deemed working together as vital for the growth of improved psychological processes, and highlighted the significance of children working together in different groups (Vygotsky, 1993). Active participation of paren ts in the treatment programmes is increasing in the contemporary world. This involvement of parents has proven to be successful in educating parents to teach a number of skills to their children, especially play and communication skills. Increasing participation of parents during this stage, by giving extra information and incorporating them in