Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Table of contents
1. Introduction of Parents of Autistic Children
1.1 Significance of topic
1.2 Challenges faced by parents with autistic children
1.3 Derivation of constraints
1.3.1.A lack of understanding and empathy by society
1.3.2. Fear of seeking help
1.3.3 Autistic childs needs takes precedence over personal well-being
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6. Bibliography
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Figure 1.0
Figure 1.1 (Parents career after their child is diagnosed with autism)
Financial aspect
A study9 showed that families with autistic children are strained financially with an average loss
of 14 percent in their family income due to jobs foregone and money spent on the treatment for
their autistic children.
In a survey10, nearly three-fifth of mothers forgoed employment because of their childs special
needs. Furthermore, as seen in figure 1, 43% of parents stopped working to take care of their
child after the diagnosis while 12% of parents switched to a part time job from a full time job.
A survey showed that 50% of these parents would be uncomfortable with their child seated
beside a child with special needs. According to above survey11, 54% of parents of autistic
children found that preschools were unwilling to take in children with special needs (Lien
Foundation,2016) and more than half felt that the support given was inadequate. These
evidences show that the lack of inclusiveness in the present educational system results in
parents of autistic children facing difficulty in enrolling their autistic child in mainstream schools.
Lack of understanding of the community
Autistic children tend to avoid eye contact and do not know how to communicate with others.
Furthermore, they exhibit abnormal behaviours. These behaviours tend to be deemed as rude
or mischievous by people who do not understand autism. Hence, they often make hurtful and
insulting comments to their parents. This is evident from a survey12 that showed that among
special needs children and their families, autistic children and their parents received the highest
percentage of insensitive remarks.
11 The Lien Foundation commissioned the Inclusive Attitudes Survey and to explore the views and attitudes of
Singaporeans towards children with special needs. Research polled over 1,000 respondents in April 2016 for the
survey, focusing its questions on the experience of inclusion in early childhood, education and daily life.
Autistic individuals have difficulties in understanding the beliefs, attitudes, emotions of others.13
Furthermore, they often exhibit challenging behaviour when placed in unfamiliar situations or
discomfort due to their surroundings.
A study14 has found that the overall earnings for families with autistic children are 28% ($17,763)
less compared to families whose children do not have health limitation. Corporates unfair
treatment towards parents with autistic child and the lack of inclusiveness in education for the
child indicates a lack of empathy and understanding of the autistic child and the problems faced
by their parents.
Members of the public do not share the same experiences as parents of autistic children when
taking care of them. Hence, they are unable to understand and empathize with them. According
13 They are often unable to share a common focus. Furthermore, they have difficulty interpreting facial expressions,
vocal intonation and body language.
to a survey15, 64% of the respondents expressed that they were willing to share public spaces
but unwilling to interact with children with special needs. 32% believed that developing children
are comfortable with interacting with children with special needs. In the same survey, one of the
parents is criticized for bringing their child of special needs to the library16. From the figure
above, it was also shown that 31% of parents feel judged by their parents and hence, do not
want to bring their child out to public places.
The inability to understand the plight faced by parents and their child leads to unfair treatment
towards these parents. The public shuns the child and makes insensitive remarks to parents.
This unfriendly treatment demoralizes parents and discourages them from confiding in others to
obtain appropriate advice. Hence, stress accumulates due to the inability to confide.
16 Laws should make it clear that someone with ASD (autism spectrum disorder) can go anywhere they want.I was
scolded 3 times for bringing my child to the library.
well-being
There are many challenges associated with taking care of autistic child and many of these
challenges arise due to the child's inability to engage in social interaction with others. A report17
states that parenting is hard enough, let alone when the demands of a child with special needs
and challenging behaviors are added into the mix. This resulted in them spending relatively
more time taking care and seeking help for their autistic child which is evident in a study18
showing mothers of those with autism spend at least 2 hours more each day for caregiving than
other mothers. This leaves them with less time and effort for their own financial,emotional and
social well being, leading to the accumulation of stress in the long run.
Parents are constantly worried that because of their social incompetency, their child is
vulnerable to bullies according to an article19. This leads them placing a huge emphasis in
ensuring that their child integrates well with the society, they are left with insufficient time to look
into their own well-being.
17 This is a report by autism speaks (is an autism advocacy organization in the United States) titled Long term
solution, what if we just cant do this anymore
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20 The article is about migrant workers and efforts to improve their welfare in various areas is reported by
Channel NewsAsia.
21 A primary survey is done with 50 migrant workers.
11
12
22The article about migrant workers and efforts to improve their welfare is reported by Channel
NewsAsia.
13
Our preliminary research shows that migrant workers fear being sent home by employers after
voicing their problems as they have the need to provide for themselves and their families. The
article23 also stated that his fear of the negative consequences of reporting their employers
causes them to be unwilling to seek help to address their problems of exploitation.
2.2.3 Their familys needs take precedence over their personal wellbeing
Francis Seah24 reports that most migrant workers work in Singapore to earn income for their
families. Our primary survey25 shows that this is of utmost priority to 68% of them. They are thus
afraid of being sent home by their employers if they report the ill-treatment, hence they do not
voice their problems and choose to tolerate the mistreatment.
23 The article about migrant workers and efforts to improve their welfare is reported by Channel
NewsAsia.
Their fear of the negative consequences of seeking help outweighs their need to
address their problems.
Their familys needs are more valued than their personal well-being.
Feature: Members of the public get to witness the living conditions of migrant
workers first hand.
Affordance: Public will better understand and empathize with them. This
reduces the stigmatization of migrant workers from the eyes of the public and
allows them to better understand the lives of migrant workers.(F2)
Limitation
It is limited in scope as only those who are interested will attend. Hence,
people who are not interested in understanding migrant workers will remain
distant from migrant workers.
It lacks sustainability as there is a short time span of the programme and no
follow up is provided.
26 An estimated of 400 people ranging from students to members of the public attended the event and interacted
with more than 130 migrant workers.
15
Fig 3. Migrant workers and Yale-NUS students who participated in the Migrant Workers Awareness Week.
Image by Kimberley Pah
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27 Ms Lisa Jaffar, the associate programme coordinator of the Dialogue in the Dark
28 Mr Bernard Menon, the Executive Director of Migrant Workers' Centre
29 Ad hoc solutions refer to makeshift solutions that are not intended to be adapted for other purposes
17
Limitations
Limitations
18
Limitations
30 Three hundred and eighty undergraduates were presented one of four case vignettes that were identical and
surveyed on their perception of seeking help for psychological injury.
19
Fig 1. A member of the public interacting with an student from Eden School taken during the Action for Autism carnival in
conjunction with World Autism Awareness Singapore.
20
Fig2. A poster for World Autism Day that helps to increase awareness in people
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5. Generation of Ideas
5.1 Generated Idea #1
Description
An activity whereby challenging scenarios faced by parents of autistic children will be
presented to participants. Participants who experience the scenario will add a block to their
stack, of which it signifies the stress added to them when they experience the scenario.
Features and
affordances
Impact(s)
Limitations
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Feature: Parent deliberately leave the autistic child alone, asking for a
passerby to help to take care of their child.
Affordance: This allows participants to experience taking care of an autistic
child.
Feature: The child acts as an autistic child by kicking up a big fuss and acts
in a manner that is deemed to be shameful by others.
Affordance: Participants will be able to experience first-hand, the shame
that parents of autistic children face when bringing their child out.
Feature: The child acts in a way that is incomprehensible by the participant.
Affordance: Participant is able to experience the challenge parents of
autistic children face in terms of understanding an autistic childs behaviour
and catering to their needs.
Feature: Passersby stare at autistic children and the person taking care of
him.
Affordance: This allows participant to experience the judgement towards
parents of autistic children.
Feature: When the person asks from help from a passer-by, he does not
respond.
Affordance: This allows participants to experience the helplessness parents
feel whereby nobody is able to help them. Furthermore, they feel helpless as
they want to help the child but yet are unable to.
Impact
Limitations
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A virtual reality headset is used to simulate real life situations where they can interact
with people in the form of a game. This allows autistic children to learn and practice
essential social skills through indicators found in the game.
Features
and
affordances
Feature 1: The virtual reality game simulates different common places that the
child might go to and the people they might encounter. In the game, the child
will be able to move freely and talk to these people. They get to involve in
situation such as face-to-face interaction with friends, teachers and parents or
even attending a formal event. This simulation prompts the child to behave
according to the situation.
Affordance: This is to simulate real life situation without the child being
discriminated and without the parents feeling uncomfortable for bringing their
child out.
Feature 3: If the child has not been interacting with anyone in the game for
some time (e.g 15mins) the system will react by prompting the children to talk
and engage in social interactions.
Affordance: This helps to progressively improve the childs socialising skill as
it is a form of behavioural therapy, teaching autistic children the right way to
socialise with the people around them.
Feature 4: When the child displays an inappropriate public behaviour, parents
will intervene by manipulating the responses of the person to show that they
are unhappy with the behaviour of the child. While the virtual character is
communicating with the virtual character, the character will communicate
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Limitations
The simulation of specific areas may not be fully realistic as each child has
different common places they visit. Hence, the implementation of one sample
may require time as it is overly specialised. This means that it is not as viable
on a larger scale.
The effectiveness of the game is constrained by current state of technology.
[Insert SI after obtaining insight from IT expert]
31 It is a study made by Robins et al. (2005). The study aimed to explore whether a longitudinal expose
to humanoid robot has an impact on autistic children social interaction skills and communicative
competence.
32 Smiling, gentle pat on the back
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26
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Ministry of Education. "List of SPED Schools." List of SPED Schools. Ministry of Education, 16 Apr.
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"Policy Ban on Female Migrant Workers: Simple Solutions to Complex Problems?" Paperroom, n.d.
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