At
The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Jennifer M. Davis, Erinn H. Finke have an article titled "The Experience of Military Families with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders During Relocation and Separation."
The abstract:
Military families with a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are underrepresented in the literature. In order to provide appropriate services, research must be done to determine the needs of these families. A qualitative methodology was used to interview military spouses with children with ASD about their experiences with therapeutic services. Overall, results indicate military families with a child with ASD experience challenges associated with both the military lifestyle and having a child with special needs. Due to their membership in two groups prone to support limitations and therapeutic service accessibility issues, military families with a child with ASD may be at additional risk for high levels of stress and difficulty obtaining and maintaining ASD related services.
Some comments from their interviewees:
- ‘‘whenever we move, we always go to the back of the line and that’s frustrating because…you’re getting ready to move and so you’re probably not taking him as much or whatever because you’re transitioning out, and then the time you’re in transition, and then trying to get him enrolled in something. So yeah, that really affects things.’’
- ‘‘the challenge that I faced was just we only had three options (for ABA providers). So that was not a lot considering [the city] has like 12 million people, but having only three that serviced our area. I was told that actually one of those three only serviced our area. I kind of felt like, ‘I hope this works because if it doesn’t, we have no other options’.’’
- ‘‘next year, we’ll probably be moving again. To where, I have no idea…You can’t really keep any continuity with your therapist, which is an issue because you kind of want that. It would be ideal. Like with nonmilitary families with kids with autism, they can have the same provider, get the rapport going, and make great strides.’’
