Child-rearing routines among Mexican-heritage children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

This study examined the daily routines and activities of Mexican-heritage mothers and their children with autism spectrum disorder. Experienced sampling methods were used to capture families’ current daily routines and activities, how parents valued those activities, and whether the activity was part of the child’s autism spectrum disorder intervention. A total of 32 mothers were texted five times per day over five consecutive days for a total of 721 observations. Mothers frequently engaged in Self-Care (e.g. showering), General Caregiving (e.g. cooking), and House Chores (e.g. laundry). Children engaged in activities in which interventions could easily be integrated (e.g. Academics, Self-Care, and Playing with Others). Families spent less than one-third (26.1%) of their activities participating in interventions. Mothers and children jointly spent time in General Caregiving, Playing with Others, and Using Electronics. Practitioners should focus on integrating evidence-based interventions into daily joint routine activities.

Leisure, employment, community participation and quality of life in caregivers of autistic children: A scoping review

“…Studies using measures of caregiver burden (e.g. Caregiver Burden Index; Novak & Guest, 1989) found parents of autistic children reported increased difficulty in combining care with daily tasks (Alnazly & Abojedi, 2019; Chu et al, 2020; Ten Hoopen et al, 2020), with mothers of autistic children in one study identifying childcare and household tasks as the most prevalent daily activities (Cohen et al, 2020).…”

Hablando at home: Examining the interactional resources of a bilingual autistic child

“…The family depicted in this study was part of a broader study of 38 Mexican heritage, Spanish speaking families raising at least one autistic child (Cohen & Miguel, 2018). Families were recruited from two sources, a medical clinic near the U.S. Mexico border and a non-profit regional center.…”

“…Cioé-Peña (2020) found that Latinx parents internalize the deficit perspectives of providers, accepting intervention services in English only for their bilingual children despite initial resistance. Developmentally appropriate, linguistically diverse, and culturally responsive early interventions that support the language diversity, the educational expectations, and the cultural practices of bilingual families and their autistic children 1 are needed (Cohen & Miguel, 2018;DuBay et al, 2018;Stahmer et al, 2019).…”

“…Few studies have utilized a culturally and linguistically responsive, asset-based approach to integrate autism interventions into the daily lives of culturally diverse families that build on their linguistic and cultural resources (Jegatheesan et al, 2010;Larson et al, 2020). Some scholars have begun to investigate families' daily routines and identify targeted opportunities for adapting culturally relevant interventions into immigrant families' daily activities (Cohen, Miguel, & Wishard Guerra, 2020). Yet, these studies have not fully considered how language interactions may be critical, malleable factors that shape autism interventions and ultimately impact children's language outcomes.…”