Essay on Relationship That Exists Between Children Born After Having an Autistic Child

The study discusses the relationship that exists between children born after having an autistic child and how they might go through developmental challenges. Mothers of children having a child with autism become cautious while bringing up the rest of the siblings. They have a worry that their nest child may develop the condition. The concern begins at an early age of about six months where they need medical experts view in regards to their suspicions. In most cases, more often than not, the wellbeing of a child is a concern to the mother as they are the first caregivers of infants. They also provide valuable information about the growth of a child when presenting them to a medical facility.

Introduction Paragraph

Autistic children require special treatment and observation so that they can lead normal lives like those born without any defect. When a family births a child with autism, then subsequent children tend to receive more medical attention during their first year as how they behave, develop, and grow becomes the concern of their caregivers. They may portray unique characteristics that define them as slow adopters. It is the wish of every parent to get a healthy child after carrying pregnancy to term. Early detection helps in reducing the impact a disease might have on a child. After the first child is diagnosed with a condition, it becomes alarming for the parents which means they take their subsequent children for checkups at the suspicion of a delayed development. Siblings connect and relate with each other by default. Constantino et al., (2013) state that siblings of autistic children may have difficulties in their social and emotional developments by the time they are about three years. There is a correlation between autistic children and their siblings, which is evident in the progress of their developments.

Background Material

The background material for the study will include reports from medical care centers that deal with children. In addition, reliable and descriptive material will be used in the study as they have researched and verified information. The research will rely on concrete data from websites, published books, and articles written in relation to the relationship that exists between children with autism and their siblings. The background material used in the study will come from sources written in the past six years as they contain the most relevant data from medical reports and researches conducted by scholars interested in the topic. Experiments conducted in research laboratories found in the publications and articles will provide great insights for the topic. Background material will help build the introduction part of the research proposal. It will help provide the basis of arguments that have been provided in the past with regards to the health conditions of the younger siblings of the children born with autism. This will help create a foundation and direction that the paper will take as theories, ideologies, and perceptions are presented in this part.

Literature Review

This part will compare the insights and ideas brought by different scholars about the topic. Different scholars that have studied this topic have had ideas about what exist between the autistic children and their younger siblings. This is because they have used samples and environments that differ. Hence, their results will provide different findings. However, they must have a common finding that will form the biggest source of resource for this research study. For instance, Georgiades et al., (2013) states that younger siblings of children born with autism presented autistic-like characters including social impairments. In addition, they had issues with their communication skills and cognitive abilities as they advanced in age. However, beyond four years, the children started developing normally as they grew independent of their older siblings. On the other hand, Talbott et al., (2015) suggests that depending on the experience mothers go through while bringing up an autistic child at the first instance, and then they become conscious of the growth pattern of their younger children. At the instance of any negative character, then the mothers are quick to seek medical attention. However, the authors agree that there is a high percentage that younger siblings will present autistic characters before they reach one year. Further, The Brown University Child & Adolescent Psychopharmacology update in (2016) stated that siblings of children with ASDs are more likely to have psychiatric disorders. Their explanation is that the environment and genetics play a leading role to provoke ADSs and mental disorders. Damiano et al., (2013) agrees with the Universitys sentiments and states that siblings of autistic children are more likely to develop health issues, which are directly related to the disorder their sibling has. The authors suggest that their ability to communicate delays by a large margin. Rowberry et al., (2015) provides a report on the screening of autistic disorders in the children below one year. The study is based on the parental reports and follows up on the children as they develop and the similarities that they present with their siblings. The authors suggest that screening for the diseases at an early age helps in reducing the negative impact on their development. Through screening, problematic areas are identified and treated with therapeutic follow-ups.

Proposed Research

The proposed research will fill the gap that exists in the field in identifying the susceptibility of younger siblings of children born with autism. There are findings that exist but they are narrow to prove that indeed there is a direct relationship between the two. Further, children exposed to the same environment when growing up tend to behave in similar characteristics. Therefore, the study, seeks to find whether children born of the same parents but subjected to different environments would have the same developmental defects as their siblings. This will help prove without doubt that indeed there is a correlation between autistic children and their younger siblings. In addition, the proposed research will give evidence from the different sources it has to prove the hypothesis created at the beginning of the study as real. For future purposes, the proposed research will contribute to the wide range of information to the medical field. Future scholars, students, and research centers can use the results presented therein as a basis for their studies or as a reference for their papers. Medical experts can also use the data presented from the research as a point of reference and basis to give their prescriptions to mothers who present younger siblings to children who were born with autism. It will help provide assurance to parents.

Research Question

The research questions will guide the study, as they will be answered in the analysis part. They include:

Is there a correlation between autistic children and their siblings?

What level of correlation exists between them?

What kind of developmental delays do the younger siblings of autistic children go through as a result?

What is the prevention for the younger siblings to avoid being affected?

Hypothesis

The hypothesis of the study is directional as it provides the stand the research will take at completion. It is a prediction by the researcher regarding the relationship that exists between the autistic child and the children born after that. It will present data based on theories developed by previous scholars, literature that exists about the topic as well as the past research conducted on the theme. This will help provide concrete data used in proving that indeed there is a direct relationship between the susceptibility of younger siblings of children with ASD. Development of the hypothesis will take part at the introduction part while providing more information for the second chapter as it is expanded through evidence and statistics that indeed there is a relationship amongst the children.

The study will be guided by: The younger siblings of children with ASD are susceptible to autism.

Planned Research

The planned research will be part of the research proposal submitted in Unit 9. Resources to use for the study will come from both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources are reliable as they contain recorded data from previous researchers who have looked into the topic and give the findings of their results. The library also has books published by medical experts who have dealt with children with autism. Medical websites like that of the American Medical Association will have rich information about autistic and how to define the siblings health born after the first child suffers from the condition. Such a site prepares its information from families that willingly take part in the studies of children with autism. The planned research will take place within one month, as this will provide enough time for collecting information from different sources, analyze, draw findings, and present results.

Summary Research

The summary research will provide the results on the relationship that exists between the autistic children and their siblings highlighting the developmental delays they have. This will help prove whether a relationship exists between the autistic child and the rest or whether every child develops and grows independent of others. It will also provide monitor reports from healthcare institutions to provide evidence of the existence of the relationship amongst the children. The summary research will contain pressure families go through while dealing with autistic children. Further, the research will address the number of times children below one year go for medical checkups because their elder sibling had autism. This will come from the developmental behavior and tendency they display that causes the panic attacks among their parents. The research will end with recommendations that can be used by parents who have given birth to autistic children. This will help in preventing the slow growth depicted by their younger children who have a sibling with autism. It will also help give them confidence in bringing up special children and following up on their medical status so that they can lead normal lives like the rest.

References

Constantino, J. N., Todorov, A., Hilton, C., Law, P., Zhang, Y., Molloy, E., ... & Geschwind, D. (2013). Autism recurrence in half siblings: strong support for genetic mechanisms of transmission in ASD. Molecular psychiatry, 18(2), 137.

Damiano, C. R., Nahmias, A., Hogan-Brown, A. L., & Stone, W. L. (2013). What do repetitive and stereotyped movements mean for infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorders?. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 43(6), 1326-1335.

Georgiades, S., Szatmari, P., Zwaigenbaum, L., Bryson, S., Brian, J., Roberts, W., ... & Garon, N. (2013). A prospective study of autistic-like traits in unaffected siblings of probands with autism spectrum disorder. JAMA psychiatry, 70(1), 42-48.

Rowberry, J., Macari, S., Chen, G., Campbell, D., Leventhal, J. M., Weitzman, C., & Chawarska, K. (2015). Screening for autism spectrum disorders in 12-month-old high-risk siblings by parental report. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 45(1), 221-229.

Talbott, M. R., Nelson, C. A., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2015). Diary reports of concerns in mothers of infant siblings of children with autism across the first year of life. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 45(7), 2187-2199.

The Brown University Child. (2016). Siblings of children with ASDs more likely to have psychiatric disorders - - 2016 - The Brown University Child & Adolescent Psychopharmacolo...