Contact: +91-9711224068
International Journal of Home Science
  • Printed Journal
  • Indexed Journal
  • Refereed Journal
  • Peer Reviewed Journal

International Journal of Home Science

2018, VOL. 4 ISSUE 1, PART B

Importance of functional skills for children with autism: Its influence on the home adjustment of their mothers and fathers

Author(s): Dr. Venkat Lakshmi H
Abstract:
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests in the first 3 years of age. It is characterised by abnormalities in communication skills and social interaction, restrictive, repetitive and stereotypical patterns of behaviour, interests and activities. A child on the autism spectrum may hardly use words to communicate, even though they are able to recite passages from videotapes or says the alphabet. Moreover, social deficits and repetitive behaviours may not be seen clearly in the early years but gradually it becomes more apparent as the child grows up. Children with autism lack functional skills; they cannot perform these skills without the help of parents. Teaching them functional skills are very challenging and enormous tasks for the parents hence it affects the parent’s home adjustment. Thus an attempt was made to assess the impact of functional skills on the home adjustment of parents of children with autism before and after the influence of intervention program.
For the present study, a self- structured scale on home adjustment of parents of children with autism was used to obtain the required information. The total numbers of 190 parents (i.e. 134 mothers and 56 fathers) of autistic children (aged 5 to 10 years) were selected through purposive random sampling techniques from various special schools in Bangalore city. Among these, 55 parents (32 mothers and 23 fathers) were selected for the experimental group based on their willingness to participate in the intervention program and the remaining was considered as the control group. The parents of experimental group received the intervention program for 4 months on every Monday and Friday. The result showed that there was not much significant difference between the mean score of experimental and control groups for home adjustment of fathers of children with autism. And on the other hand, there was a highly significant difference between the mean score of experimental and control groups for home adjustment scales of mothers of autistic children. The study highlights the need for training the parents of children with autism on the importance and techniques of teaching functional skills to their autistic child, in order to help them able to perform their day to day tasks with less support.
Pages: 109-113  |  375 Views  139 Downloads


International Journal of Home Science
How to cite this article:
Dr. Venkat Lakshmi H. Importance of functional skills for children with autism: Its influence on the home adjustment of their mothers and fathers. Int J Home Sci 2018;4(1):109-113.

International Journal of Home Science
Call for book chapter