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Relationships Under Stress: Raising Children with Autism and Other Special Needs
Despite the rumors of an 80% divorce rate, couples raising children with autism are sticking together and doing the best they can under trying circumstances. During the past five years, three research studies have provided significant evidence that couples are not breaking up because of the heightened stress they are experiencing.
Psychologist Brian Freedman, PhD, was the lead author of one of these studies and clinical director of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders at Kennedy Krieger Institute. The findings of his team debunked the general understanding about divorce rates among parents of children with autism. Dr. Freedman and his research team found that 64 percent of children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) belong to a family with two married, biological, or adoptive parents.
Previous research clearly established that parenting a child with autism is stressful and puts pressure on the couple's relationship. Studies have found couples with a child with autism experience more stress than couples with typically developing children or couples with children with other types of developmental disabilities. Mothers of children with autism report more depression than those with typically developing children, while fathers report they deal with the stress by distancing themselves and becoming less involved with the family.
This Sunday, November 10 at 9 PM Eastern, Brian Freedman, Ph.D. will be our featured contributor on "Guy Talk" at www.autismbrainstorm.org discussing the research and implications for families raising children with autism and related conditions. We will talk about how fathers are handling these challenges in their families.
Mark your calendars, and if that time is not convenient you will be able to watch a recording of our conversation on YouTube. Click here to download a copy of the study.
Robert Naseef and Brian Freedman collaborated on a 2011article for the Autism Advocate, A Diagnosis of Autism is not a Prognosis of Divorce: Myths and Realities of Maintaining a Marriage as Parents of a Child with Autism.
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 GuyTalk@Alternativechoices: Networking for Fathers of Children with Autism and other Special Needs
GuyTalk@AlternativeChoices is a free community service for the Philadelphia area hosted by psychologist, author, and parent Robert Naseef. The group is open to fathers and male service providers. We will meet informally and share food while we talk about the struggles and triumphs of fathers. We will support fathers and families from the newly diagnosed to adulthood as we offer advice and perspective to each other about how to survive and thrive.
We will meet on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, at 7:00 PM:
November 13, and December 11.
Please bring a snack or nonalcoholic beverage to share. Click to download the flyer to share.
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Chips, Dips & Parenting Tips
This an ongoing monthly group open to any  parents or caregivers with children with special needs. Faciliated by the professional staff of Alternative Choices. 7:00 PM on November 6 & December 4.
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Adults Ages 18-25 Needed for Brain Imaging Study
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The Study of Visual Perception and Neural Encoding at the Center for Autism Research at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia is looking for participants!
Our brains manage to represent an enormous variety of things that we see. The goal of the study is to better understand how the brain encodes all this visual information, and how some people's brains (such as individuals with an autism spectrum disorder) might work differently to represent the same thing.
Click on the Children's Hospital logo above for more information.
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RSVP or for more information on this group.
