Developmental Function of Families with Autism Spectrum Disorder children compared with families with healthy children

Having a child with ASD evidently is overwhelming experience for parents and families. Often, pervasive and severe disabilities of children with ASD are associated with a plethora of difficulties in caregivers. Determination of developmental abilities of autistic children’s families, and comparison of their strengths and weaknesses with developmental abilities of normal children's families, was the purpose of this study. The method of this study was survey and studied 67 of mothers. By available sampling method, 32 mothers of ASD children from teaching centers for autistic children in Mashhad, and 35 mothers of normal children from the city's kindergartens were selected. They were evaluated by Developmental Functioning Family Assessment Questionnaire (DFFAQ), which was made by researcher, and the obtained data were analyzed by using multi-way analysis of variance. In all dimensions, the mean of scores for developmental functioning families with autistic children as lower than the mean of scores for families with normal children. Also in dimensions of interest and engaging in human relationships, shared social problem solving, logical thinking and discipline, findings showed significant difference between developmental functioning of ASD children’s families and developmental functioning of normal children’s families. It was concluded that the function of families of ASD children group was weak compared to the control group.