Abstract:
The present research aims to study the acceptance process of parents through their experiences when presented with their child's diagnosis of autism by drawing on Kubler-Ross' five stages of grief. In-depth data were collected from five main informants who fit the criteria of the current study. This phenomenology research adopted a qualitative method by conducting in-depth interviews. These data were analysed by the content analysis approach. The findings suggest that the acceptance process of parents towards their child with autism does not occur in an orderly way. Based on the data, the process begins with the denial of the parents and family members. This can be followed with the anger at the child's symptoms that the parents cannot control and the reactions of other people when meeting with their child with autism. The parents can feel depressed by their guilty for having negative thoughts during the pregnancy period and on their upbringing methods which contribute to autism. The final stage is the acceptance which leads to the changes of the parents in their upbringing methods and the treatment of their child with autism. Such positive changes in parents during the upbringing of the child with autism occur when they look on the bright side in having the child in these difficult situations. The present research enables the researcher to gain direct experiences in the acceptance process of the parents after their child is diagnosed with autism. The data results show that the feelings of the parents who have a child with autism include denial, anger, guilty, and worry. The findings can be partly referred to the Kubler-Ross model of grief. They also reflect the acceptance process which occur particularly to the key informants of the study. As a counselling psychologist who has been working with children with autism, their parents, and their family members, the researcher has learned the impacts of autism on family members, driving forces of the parents in assisting their child with autism, and their energy in healing themselves. These data and experiences clearly confirm that providing the counselling to the parents and family members of the child with autism can heal their feelings. The counselling is proved very necessary in encouraging them to understand themselves and their child with autism and to advocate the development of the child with autism in their potential abilities