The Problems of The Families Who Have Autistic Children: A Qualitative Research

Autism is defined as one of the neurodevelopmental disabilities which continue for life and affect social development, communication and behaviors of the individuals in a negative sense. Purpose of this study is to determine how parents with autistic children figure out the autism, what their reactions are and what the effect of the believe is to accept it, how they declare it to the people around them and how the reaction of people is, who and how they get support from and what the possible future difficulties and requirements are. The study was based on qualitative research method and interview form prepared based on the purpose by the researcher was used in the study. The study is based on case study which is a qualitative research method and uses an interview form that is prepared by the researcher according to the purpose of the study. Study group is composed of 15 mothers and 8 fathers selected by purposive sampling method among parents of children going to special education centers. Study results have been shown that, it was found that the parents first noticed the inadequacy of language development without noticing the autism. In addition, it was seen that the first reaction of the parents' children to get autism was also the intense sadness. There is another result which is that parents need to get information about an autism with the sadness they have experienced. Parents have expressed concern about the future of their children, depending on the strength of their children's self-expression. It has been determined that the society has negative attitudes towards autistic children and that parents would like to see the society to be more moderate towards autistic children. Results have been determined, it is important to establish empirical studies that will increase the awareness of other individuals about autism while showing the needs for supporting from autistic families. Study findings have been discussed with similar study findings included in the literature.