Opinions of Turkish Parents of Children with Autism: Autism Definition and Causes of the Autism

The purpose of this study was to examine the opinions of parents of children with autism about their perception and definition of autism, characteristics of their children whether they are congruent with the common definition of autism or not. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 50 parents who were the primary caregivers of children with autism. Following the completion of interviews with the parents, the interviews were transcribed without making any corrections; the expressions of parents were written verbatim as they were heard by the researchers. The results of this study showed that parents did not know the causes of autism; they defined autism as having deficiencies in social-communicational behaviors, the most common problem congruent with the definition of autism was speech-language and communication impairments and they did not observe any learning or behavioral characteristics incongruent with the definition of autism. The in depth parent opinions obtained from this study are discussed in line with the findings of related qualitative research studies and suggestions for future research and practices are also included.