Parents’ Observation on their Child’s Behavior Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Qualitative Exploration

Abstract

This article offers a qualitative analysis of the parent’s self-reported observations about their child’s behavior diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The primary objective is to explore the parents’ observation about the behavior of the child with ASD and to gain a preliminary understanding of parental concerns that lead them to Autism Center for diagnosis. Four parents of boyswere selected through purposive sampling andwereinterviewed. Using conventional qualitative content analysis, significant statements were extracted, and parents’ observations were sorted in different categories that were later emerged into themes. Five core categories emerged from the data; stubbornness, fixation, communication problems, poor socialization, andintellectual disability. Parental concerns included hyperactivity, repetitive behavior, communication issues, and throwing behavior. This preliminary study provides a knowledge base to improve parental counseling and widen the research horizon for furtherexploration. Parents’ observations reported in this study deliver an investigative platform to structure the in-depth qualitative research that will be useful to understand and contextualize the cases of ASD.