Support for Families of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Caring for a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can be stressful for parents and siblings. As a parent, you may be concerned about your child’s future and feel stress related to lack of sleep, managing your child’s developmental delays, and coordinating and paying for services. You may feel isolated from friends and family members who don’t understand your family’s special challenges. Parent support groups and parent-child interaction therapy can help decrease your stress and ease your worries. Learning about ASD and how it affects children and impacts families can help you adjust to the diagnosis, learn effective coping and parenting strategies, and optimize your child’s growth and development. Support groups also give you opportunities to connect with other caregivers in similar situations.

Helping the Siblings of Children with ASD

Brothers and sisters of children with autism spectrum disorder love their siblings and can learn lifelong lessons about patience, compassion and acceptance, but it isn’t always easy. Siblings can also struggle with anger, shame, jealousy and other feelings, and they may benefit from help in learning to manage stress. The Rainbow Autism Center offers individual and group sessions for siblings of children on the spectrum to help them cope with conflicting feelings and work through worries related to their sibling's future. Group sessions (SibShops) give kids a chance to connect with other siblings of special needs children who can relate to their feelings and experiences and are offered multiple times throughout the year at locations throughout Northeast Ohio.