Eight Core Themes from Parents Who Have Raised a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder

In this course, Dr Thomas DeGeorge, PhD., Assistant Professor at Rosemont College, notes that clinicians working with families in which a child has ASD focus almost exclusively on the child’s needs and the parents’ emotional needs, meanwhile, go unmet. With an objective to increase awareness of both the pragmatic and the emotional journeys of parents bringing up a child with ASD, Dr DeGeorge identifies eight themes which appeared consistently in his interviews with six couples who had a child with ASD. These are issues of: (1) searching; (2) dealing with the impact of diagnosis; (3) dealing with social aspects relative to extended family and peers; (4) division of labour within the family; (5) the marital relationship; (6) the counselling experience; (7) future goals and outlook; and (8) appreciation. Dr DeGeorge outlines implications of these themes for counsellors working with families affected by autism.