DETERMINANTS OF PARENT'S ATTITUDE ON PRE-REQUISITE SKILLS OF CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Abstract

The study sample of 112 parents was taken through simple random sampling from assorted special schools of Coimbatore city of Tamilnadu to evaluate the attitude of parents on pre-requisite skills of the children with ASD and its determinants. An attitude scale and a socio-demographic questionnaire were administered to assess the attitude as well as personal and family backgrounds. The majority of the parents had a neutral attitude and 12.4% indicated an unfavorable attitude. The multiple linear regression analysis indicated that there is a significant relationship between the socio-demographic factors and the parents' attitudes with F (7,104) = 3.654 and P = .001. Family income (  β .250, t = 2.455, p = 0.016), number of siblings of the child (β.-254, t = -2.747, p = 0.007), and area of residence (β -.200, t = -2.134, p = 0.035) were significant determinants of the parent's attitude towards pre-requisite skills of autistic children.