Determination of the Development of Social Behavior of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by the Type of Parental Attitude

Abstract

The basis of successful socialization of children with ASD is a sufficient degree of mastery of social and domestic skills for optimal functioning in society. The process of such children acquiring social and everyday behavior skills is lengthy and gradual, and its effectiveness depends largely on the adults raising the child, and, above all, on the parents. In order to reduce possible negativism in relation to the learning situation, children with ASD need an explanation of the importance of the task and a requirement that will have a greater effect if they come from an adult who is close to the child. For the gradual mastering of elementary skills of social and domestic behavior, constant daily training is necessary, which can only be provided in a family environment. In terms of effectiveness, the best way to teach children with ASD social and domestic behavior is recognized as operant learning, the optimal conditions for the implementation of which are formed in a family setting. Thus, the family and its corrective influence on the child with ASD becomes the focus of attention. The parental type of attitude is a necessary condition for the effective development of children with autism. If the relationship is properly built in the family, the child with ASD is given considerable time, which allows the parents to conduct corrective and developmental work in the conditions of family upbringing. In this case parents encourage any manifestations of the child’s initiative, activity and independence. Therefore, the aim of the study is to analyze the influence of the type of parental relations on the general level of development of social and domestic behavior in general and its specific components skills, which will allow to form a system of further comprehensive work to build a developmental environment for children with this nosology. The paper presents the results of our own experimental study containing a qualitative analysis of empirical data, from which it is clear that children with ASD, brought up in families with parental relations of the type “cooperation” demonstrate higher rates for all components of social and domestic behavior, at the same time type “acceptance” provides a significant level of social failure and infantilization of the child with the ability to interact with a close adult. The “symbiosis” type causes the risk of occurrence of persistent dependence of the child with ASD on parents, leading to social disadaptation. The most disorganizing type of parental attitude is “little loser” which provokes a child with ASD to be as dependent as possible on parental assistance in all the aspects of social and domestic life. The results obtained can be used as a basis for targeted, comprehensive and systematic correctional and developmental work with families with children with ASD on the formation and development of social and domestic behavior.