This is an exploratory study investigating the impact of a child's autism on parenting. It uses a psychological model of parenting to compare the process for a child with autism and for a child without autism. Nine parents were interviewed and the transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Three superordinate themes were identified: 'What we do because of autism' focuses on the parenting process and the extra demands that are placed on parents as a result of the child's autism. 'What autism has done to us' describes the impact of the child's autism on the parents and the family. It describes how the families of children with autism become isolated and socially excluded. The third superordinate theme 'Different' emphasises how children with autism are 'different', they are different from their siblings and they are different from other children. All the themes are discussed in relation to previous research and in terms of the Hoghughi (2004) model of parenting: 'Care', 'Control', and 'Development'. The parents' accounts of their experience of parenting a child with autism highlighted several possible ways in which services could be improved and generated several possible areas of future research.

Current research has demonstrated that having a child who has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder can have implications for the parents. Following a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder, early intervention has been utilised, being delivered either by professionals or the child’s parents, both at home and in an educational setting. The aim of these interventions is to address the child’s improvement in behaviour, socialisation and communication. Only recently has literature started to focus on parents’ needs and evaluating outcome for these parents when they are accessing different types of early intervention. A review of this literature reveals the need to develop systemic models considering child and parental needs and outcomes in early intervention. Before this may occur further research is needed to address the methodological limitations of the research reviewed in chapter I. Whilst there is limited literature concerning difficulties with toilet training for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, there are clinical examples of difficulties with this task. In chapter II, eight interviews addressing toilet training were completed with parents of a child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. A possible psychological conceptualisation of parent’s experiences was developed. Limitations of the research and implications for clinical practice are considered.

This thesis explored the potential that analysis of gesture may have in helping to understand better the difficulties of children with specific language impairment and children with autism. An initial review of the literature in this area focused on differences between children with specific language impairment and children with autism in terms of verbal and then non-verbal communication skills. These were then drawn together and potential areas for future research examining the use of gesture in children with developmental difficulties were identified. An investigation was then carried out comparing typically developing children, children with autistic spectrum disorders and children with specific language impairments with regards to their gesture use. Significant group differences in the type and frequency of gesture use were observed. Implications of these findings were discussed and areas for future research were identified. Group differences were also investigated using the Children’s Communication Checklist, (Bishop, 1998) a questionnaire originally designed to assess pragmatic abilities in children with language difficulties. Children with autistic spectrum disorders were shown to have a different profile of results to those with specific language impairment. These results were compared to those from similar study carried out previously and the implications were discussed. Finally, methodological and ethical considerations along with personal and professional reflections were considered in the reflective research review.

This is a case study of the role of feeling and will in interaction with children with autism. It investigates the use of changing colours of light for enhancement of engagement at this level. The research was carried out in a specially designed room where the whole interior colour could be changed using dimmer-controlled lights. 19 children aged between 8 and 17 years with a diagnosis of severe autism were involved in the study. Data were collected using video recordings, a research diary and small-scale informal interviews and were analysed by quantitative and qualitative methods. Three main stages were developed. These involved observations of behaviour of children in different colours of light, of children interacting directly with changing coloured light, and of intensive interaction augmented by changing colour moods. The main findings were that colour could affect behaviour and that in general reds were more arousing than blues and greens. Some children engaged readily in interaction with changing coloured lights, though many did not. When changing colour was used in conjunction with intentional creation of affect by an adult during intensive interaction, improvements in social engagement and communication skills were observed.

This thesis is concerned with the key areas of social interaction and emotional understanding in children with autism with regard to their development. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a ten sessions long intervention programme with the objective of facilitating the children’s social-emotional understanding, as well as promoting their social skills and interaction with both peers and adults. Two methods of studies were used with 6 children - aged 7 to 11 - who had previously been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. The quasi-experimental study divided the sample into an experimental and control group in order to evaluate the intervention. The second method was a case study involving two children in the experimental group. Both approaches provided evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention programme in enhancing the social and emotional components. The results from the first study showed that the intervention programme was associated with improvements for the children in the experimental group in their overall social-emotional understanding, as well as their social skills and interaction with their peers. Moreover, there was strong agreement between the three sources (parents, teachers and children) about this improvement, which supports the reliability of the outcomes. On the other hand, children from the control group did not improve in the tested areas. The results from the second study revealed the typical description of emotional and social deficits in the two children with high-functioning autism. In each case there were specific aspects to their level of difficulties and the way in which they interacted with their friends and family. The data collected after the intervention supports the hypothesis that children with autism can learn emotional understanding (including empathy), and this was associated with an improvement in their social functioning. The case studies also showed agreement between the parents in their dissatisfaction about the level of support that their children received at school. None of the children had received any type of social training programme particularly aimed at teaching them these specific skills. The two methods of evaluation complemented each other. Although caution should be taken when interpreting the findings, owing to the small sample size, the study suggests that children with high-functioning autism respond well to interventions designed to support their social and emotional understanding.

Context: The aim of the proposed research is to investigate autism early intervention in Saudi Arabia, taking into account the reality that such services are in a relatively early stage of development in Saudi Arabia due to the current limited experience in the autism domain generally and in early intervention programmes specifically. As such, this study was intended to act as a basis for gaining a greater understanding about how such services could be developed in Saudi Arabia in the future. Indeed, special attention was given to the cultural specifications to see if such programmes can be implemented and adapted to fit the needs of the families in Saudi Arabia. Objective: The aim is to develop the parental training programme that emerges from parents‟ needs in relation to their children with autism in which a parental training programme can be developed that leads to the establishment of a home-based intervention programme. Method: The constructivist grounded theory approach used to identify programme components, their implementation and effectiveness. Data collected from (20 interviews, 251questionnaires, 8 programme evaluation sheets, parental stress index short form (PSI-SF). Results: The present study suggested a parental training course framework with a detailed description of its components, delivery approach and evaluation process. This study also provided clear evidence that the current suggested parental training framework targeted the participants' needs and provided them with the support, the information and the skills that they needed at the post diagnosis stage. Conclusion: This result can sensitise services providers in establishing a parental training programme to help empower parents to administer some of the therapies to their autistic children that are needed on a day to day basis, with the minimal amount of stress to the parental life style.

The motivation of the study was to explore the problems of families in South Africa who struggle to manage their children with autism and to find out whether they were receiving appropriate assistance. This was done by assessing the needs of the parents of children with autism by means of semi-structured interviews. Through these interviews, the parents were given the opportunity to express what information or recommendations they would like to have available to them. How the parents view their experience, their feelings about these experiences, and the strategies and actions that they take in order to cope with raising their child with autism, is important information. The aim of the study was to explore the problems South African families have so that this may form the base of information supplied to professionals such as psychologists, social workers, and educators thereby assisting in improving service delivery to parents of children with autism. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)

The motivation of the study was to explore the problems of families in South Africa who struggle to manage their children with autism and to find out whether they were receiving appropriate assistance. This was done by assessing the needs of the parents of children with autism by means of semi-structured interviews. Through these interviews, the parents were given the opportunity to express what information or recommendations they would like to have available to them. How the parents view their experience, their feelings about these experiences, and the strategies and actions that they take in order to cope with raising their child with autism, is important information. The aim of the study was to explore the problems South African families have so that this may form the base of information supplied to professionals such as psychologists, social workers, and educators thereby assisting in improving service delivery to parents of children with autism. / Social Work / M.Diac. (Play Therapy)