Child Development Institute, The Dana-Dwek Children's Hospital, Tel-Aviv Medical Center, Israel.
Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
Autism. 2021 May;25(4):1047-1059. doi: 10.1177/1362361320984317. Epub 2021 Jan 12.
The lockdown and home isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to significant transformation in lifestyles. Being a parent in this situation was not easy for anyone, much less for parents of children with special needs. The shutting down of special education systems meant that parents lost a vital support network and had to be the sole full-time caregivers despite often lacking the skills to cope with this new and daunting situation. We interviewed parents and learned that the main difficulties faced by homebound autistic children stemmed from the change in routine, lack of special education services, limited physical space, and food- and sleep-related issues. Some children experienced worsening in behavioral, social, and developmental domains, yet others seemed to not only overcome the challenges of changing conditions but even benefit from them. The children's success or failure was directly related to how their parents coped. The key factors that enabled successful coping were the parents' ability to accommodate to the child's needs, their own creativeness and resourcefulness, and a generally positive outlook. The results of this analysis revealed that the best way to benefit autistic children caught up in drastic changes in their routine lifestyle is to invest in a strong support system for their parents.
由于 COVID-19 大流行而导致的封锁和居家隔离，人们的生活方式发生了重大转变。对于任何人来说，成为这种情况下的家长都不容易，对于有特殊需求的孩子的家长来说更是如此。特殊教育系统的关闭意味着家长失去了一个重要的支持网络，尽管他们往往缺乏应对这种新的、令人生畏的情况的技能，但他们必须成为唯一的全职照顾者。我们采访了家长，了解到居家的自闭症儿童主要面临的困难源于日常生活的改变、缺乏特殊教育服务、有限的物理空间以及与饮食和睡眠相关的问题。一些儿童在行为、社交和发展领域出现恶化，而另一些儿童似乎不仅克服了变化环境的挑战，甚至从中受益。儿童的成功或失败与父母的应对方式直接相关。成功应对的关键因素是父母适应孩子需求的能力、他们自己的创造力和足智多谋以及总体上积极的态度。这项分析的结果表明，让受日常生活方式急剧变化影响的自闭症儿童受益的最佳方式是为其父母建立一个强大的支持系统。
