Children with autism characteristically prefer routinization, yet their mothers seem to experience greater parenting stress orchestrating family life than mothers parenting children with other disabilities. This qualitative study examined the development and use of routines for nine mothers parenting children with autism spectrum diagnoses. Interview transcripts were coded by sorting data into categories and searching for variations within the category and the relationships between categories. Findings describe: (1) development of routines, (2) child's comfort or discontent in routines, (3) child's fluctuations in participation in routines, (4) effects of irregular routines on participation, (5) maternal strategies to manage irregular routines, (6) mothers' selective modification of routines, and (7) alterations in family activities and rituals. The implications of these findings for practice are discussed.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
2.
BoyceW. T.JensenE. W.JamesS. A.PeacockJ. L. (1983). The family routines inventory: Theoretical origins. Social Science and Medicine, 17, 193–200.
3.
DalrympleN. J.RubleL. A. (1992). Toilet training and behaviors of people with autism: Parent views. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 22, 265–275.
4.
DenzinN. (1989). Interpretive interactionism. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
5.
DunstC.TrivetteC.CrossA. H. (1986). Mediating influences of social support: Personal, family and child outcomes. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 90, 403–417.
6.
FactorD. C.PerryA.FreemanN. (1990). Stress, social support, and respite care use in families with autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 20, 139–146.
7.
FloydF. J.ZmickD. E. (1991). Marriage and the parenting partnership: Perceptions and interactions of parents with mentally retarded and typically developing children. Child Development, 62, 1434–1448.
8.
FreyK. S.GreenbergM. T.FewellR. R. (1989). Stress and coping among parents of handicapped children: A multidimensional approach. American Journal of Mental Retardation, 94, 240–249.
9.
FriedrichW. N.CohenD. S.WilturnerL. S. (1987). Family relations and marital quality when a mentally handicapped child is present. Psychological Reports, 61, 911–919.
10.
GallimoreR.BernheimerL. P.WeisnerT. S. (1999). Family life is more than managing crisis: Broadening the agenda of research on families adapting to childhood disability. In GallimoreR.VaughnS.SpeeceD. L.MacMillianD. L.BernheimerL. P. (Eds.), Developmental perspectives on children with high-incidence disabilities (pp. 55–80). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
11.
GrayD. E. (1997). High functioning autistic children and the construction of “normal family life.”Social Science and Medicine, 44, 1097–1106.
12.
GrayD. E. (2002a). ‘Everybody just freezes. Everybody is just embarrassed’: Felt and enacted stigma among parents of children with high functioning autism. Sociology of Health & Illness, 24, 734–749.
13.
GrayD. E. (2002b). Ten years on: A longitudinal study of families of children with autism. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 27, 215–222.
14.
GreenJ.GilchristA.BurtonD.CoxA. (2000). Social and psychiatric functioning in adolescents with Asperger syndrome compared with conduct disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 279–293.
15.
HowlinP.MawhoodL.RutterM. (2000). Autism and developmental receptive language disorder: A follow-up comparison in early adult life: II. Social, behavioural, and psychiatric outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 561–578.
16.
KoegelR. L.SchriebmanL.LoosL. M.Dirlich-WilhelmH.DunlapG.RobbinsF. R.. (1992). Consistent stress profiles in mothers of children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 22, 205–216.
17.
LarsonE. A. (2000). The orchestration of occupation: The dance of mothers. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 54, 269–280.
18.
LarsonR.RichardsM. (1999). Healthy families: Toward convergent realities. In SkolnickA.SkolnickJ. H.Family in transition (10th ed., pp. 202–208). New York: Longman.
19.
MercerJ.ChavezD. (1989). Families coping with disability: Study of California families with developmentally disabled children. Riverside, CA: University of California Riverside.
20.
MilgramN.AtzilM. (1988). Parenting stress in raising autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 18, 415–424.
21.
MylesB. S.SouthwickJ. (1999). Asperger syndrome and difficult moments: Practical solutions for tantrums, rage and meltdowns. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company.
22.
PageJ. B.BoucherJ. (1998). Motor impairments in children with autistic disorder. Child Language Teaching & Therapy, 14, 233–259.
23.
RodrigueJ. R.MorganS. B.GeffkenG. (1990). Families of autistic children: Psychological functioning of mothers. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 19, 371–379.
24.
SandersJ. L.MorganS. B. (1997). Family stress and parent adjustment as perceived by parents of children with autism or Down syndrome: Implications for intervention. Child and Family Behavior Therapy, 19, 15–32.
25.
SchreckK. A.MulickJ. A. (2000). Parental report of sleep problems in children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 127–135.
26.
SegalR.FrankG. (1998). The extraordinary construction of ordinary experience: Scheduling daily life in families of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 5, 141–147.
27.
SharpleyC. F.BitsikaV.EfremidisB. (1997). Influence of gender, parental health, and perceived expertise of assistance upon stress, anxiety and depression among parents of children with autism. Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 22, 19–28.
28.
TunaliB.PowerT. G. (2002). Coping by redefinition: Cognitive appraisals in mothers of children with autism and children without autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 25–34.
29.
VerMaas-LeeJ. R. (1999). Parent ratings of children with autism on the evaluation of sensory processing (ESP). Unpublished master's thesis, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
30.
WolfL. C.NohS.FismanS. N.SpeechleyM. (1989). Psychological effects of parenting stress on parents of autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19, 157–166.
31.
ZerhouniE. A. (2004). Congressional Appropriations Committee Report on the state of autism research. Bethesda, MD: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health.
