Extra, Extra! I'm Stressed!

Here's one of those studies that make you think, "Who paid for this?" and, more importantly, "Can they get their money back?"

As a mom on one of my Autism lists succinctly put it: Duh.

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University of Washington
Abstract Title
STRESS IN PARENTS OF PRESCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH AUTISM, DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY, AND TYPICAL DEVELOPMENT
List of Authors
A. Estes, G. Dawson, E. Koehler
Enter your abstract here
Background: Stress levels are generally higher for parents of children with autism compared with parents of typically developing children.

Objective: Identify specific child factors that relate to stress in parents of children with autism to assist in providing effective strategies for reducing stress in families.

Methods: Participants are from a longitudinal study on the neurobiology and development of children with autism (ASD), developmental delay (DD), and mental-age matched children with typical development (Typ). Children were evaluated for general cognitive ability using the Mullen Scales and for ASD using the ADI, ADOS, and DSM-IV. Language, adaptive behavior, behavior problems and social abilities were also assessed in children. Parents reported their own level of parenting stress, depression, and anxiety.

Results: Data are reported for 51 children with ASD, 20 with DD, and 27 Typ children (Mean ages; ASD = 43.9 months, DD = 44.2 months, Typ = 28.1 months). Parenting Stress in the ASD group was significantly higher than in the DD and Typ groups. Anxiety was higher in the ASD group than in the Typ group. Depression scores did not differ between groups. Analyses are planned to investigate the relationship between specific child factors and parenting stress in this sample.

Conclusions: Preliminary findings indicate elevated stress levels in parents of children with ASD compared with parents of children with DD and typically developing children. Results of analyses aimed at identifying the specific factors, including child factors, that play a role in increasing parenting stress will be presented.

Funding source: NICHD (U19 HD34565) and NIMH (U54MH066399)

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After processing the information for a few minutes, I went from finding this laughable to getting angry about it. Like the asinine study that tries to link autism to TV watching, this study is foolish. But the foolish part of this study is that it states the obvious. Parents of children with autism are stressed out. This could be determined by using common sense. Why in the world would you need a study to determine this? Here's an idea, instead of wasting valuable research time and money on studies like this, why don't you spend it figuring out how to help treat kids with autism? That would definitely help with the parents' stress levels.

But, wait, I guess you can't do that if you don't know the parents are stressed; this must be a preliminary study, so they can go ahead and find a cure for Autism, now that they know it's making us poor parents stressed out. Yes, that last line should be read with as much sarcasm as possible.

I know my stress levels when Hutton was in preschool were much higher than they are now, as I scrambled around, trying to put the pieces together to figure out insurance coverage; then find a good doctor, find a better doctor, no, find any doctor who can offer ANY help at all; then find a speech therapist, and find another speech therapist when the first one doesn't want to work around our schedule at all; then figure out the whole ABA thing, get on a year+ long wait list at a good place, find a decent place to give us ABA in the mean time, find a home therapist; figure out which of the bazillion supplements and dietary changes we need. You know what, I'm STILL stressed, and STILL working on most of the above issues, plus the new issue of kindergarten. At least now, though, I have support from other autism parents. Isn't it funny that of all the resources out there that cost so much money, fellow parents are still the best resource and support, and they're free? The UW should do another "duh" study on this: Having support from people in similar situations can help lower stress levels.