TheRoleofSocialWorkerinRaisingAwareness

ofFamilieswithAutisticChildren

(A field study in Erbil city)

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Salahaddin University- Collage of Arts

Social Work Department

Submitted department of (social work) in partial fulfillment of the

requirement’s for the degree of B.A (Social work)

By:

Harvin Muhammad Ibrahim

Janna Hshyar Akram

Supervised by:

Mrs. Rezan Kattab Ali

April_2021

i

Abstract Research topic is about the role of social worker in raising awareness of families with

autistic children. during the COVID-19 lockdown from march to Jun 2020 .The main aim

of the research is to found out the role of social worker in helping autistic parent’s to how

treat with their autistic child during COVID-19 lockdown in Erbil city in Kurdistan, The

research discussed to what degree social workers have been the source of help to autism

owned parent using online method, telephone call, Facebook page .. also another main

aims is that how the parents benefit from online lessons during the lockdown.

Also the methodology use for this research is the qualitative approach, and for the data

collection used interview method. Two groups of people have been interviewed, from the

first group 5 autism owned parents and the second group 2 of social workers. The findings

of the research were Hana autistic Centre was not prepared for a sudden lockdown that’s

why they didn’t have written online guideline. Therefore the parent’s responsibilities got

harder during the lockdown because the parents didn’t enough information on how to deal

with their autistic child, therefore a result the autistic children’s behaviour got worse.

A professional centre such as this have a preparation for such a sadden situation even

though there was no written online guideline have been provided but the centre was have

a formal Facebook page , and exercise video and plying have been shared on the page.

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Acknowledgement

Thanks, God, for helping us in every situation, and thanks for our parents and family as

they helped as for the economic and emotional support. with their help we can overcome

any obstacles in our live.

We want to give special thanks to our supervisor, Mrs.Rezan kattab Ali who really helped

us at all the stages of undertaking this research, without her assistance this project

wouldn’t be completed.

We want to give special thanks for all friends and teachers who helped us from the

beginning to the end, and specially D.Hakim Q.Hirani for giving some new idea and

support.

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Table of contents

Abstract ............................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................ ii Table of contents ............................................................................................................. iii

Organization of the Research ...................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................. 2

1.1 General Introduction .......................................................................................... 2 1.2 Research Problem ............................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Aims ..................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Research Question ............................................................................................... 4 1.5 Definition of Concepts ........................................................................................ 5

Chapter Two: literature Review .................................................................................... 7 Chapter Three: Methodology ....................................................................................... 12

3.1 Method ................................................................................................................... 12 3.2 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 13

Chapter Four .................................................................................................................. 19 4.1 Findings and Discussion ....................................................................................... 19 4.2 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 21 4.3 Recommendation .................................................................................................. 22

List of references ............................................................................................................ 23 Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 25

1

Organization of the Research

This research consist as following

1. Chapter One: General introduction, Research problem, Research aims, Research

question.

2. Chapter Two: literature Review

3. Chapter Three: Methodology, Method, Data analysis

4. Chapter Four: Findings and Discussion, Conclusion, and Recommendation

5. List of Reference

6. Appendices

2

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 General Introduction Autism is a disease that affects the growth of the mind in children, This causes a number

of differences between the autistic children and normal children, which contain to

disruption of social communication capabilities and also cause to another thing as It can

lead to limited and repetitive activities, behaviors, and desires, and all this will have a

great and harmful effect on destroying human potential in the social sphere, work and

other fields. The three functional levels of autism, “ASD Level 1 Requiring Support”

difficulty initiating social interactions, social and planning problems can hamper

independence. “ASD Level 2 Requiring Substantial Support” social interactions limited

to narrow special interests, frequent restricted/ repetitive behaviors. ASD Level 3

“Requiring Very Substantial Support” severe deficits in verbal and nonverbal social

communication skills, great distress/ difficulty changing actions or focus. And the

different kinds of autism include (( Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Previously

called Asperger’s Syndrome; Rhett syndrome, although this has been removal from the

spectrum; Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (ASD); Kanner’s Syndrome or Classic

Autistic Disorder; and Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified

(PDD-NOS).)) So autism parent’s facing difficulties in treating with their autism child

especially during the quarantine time some of difficulties is that they can’t understand

their autism child, and autism child is move full. Social worker has a significant positive

role to play in helping autism children and parents, Helping autism children at autism

centers is because they cannot act as normal children and learn to speak, which makes

they cut off from society, which unfortunately our community does not have good

information about ASD, which often causes autism children to experience psychological

and physical violence, That's why it's the role of a social worker who is also helping

children with all the things that are isolated and unable to participate in society. By

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participating in various and useful activities that are used as treatments for behavior,

language speech treatment, game treatment, physical treatment, and food treatment. Also

helping, supporting and warning parents who have autistic children, It's hard to be a parent

for autism children. The most important step to supporting parents with autism is learning

about autism and understanding it because there is a misconception about autism. Because

autism embodies itself in some other kinds For example, the child may appear normal but

has problems with social symptoms. And how can they deal with them at home, especially

during the long-term quarantine when children did not go to the center and were at home,

and the duties of parents were to be more difficult, so parents needed more help from

researchers.

1.2 Research Problem

determining the problem of the research is a major condition in every research , it’s

important step in research , in our community Autistic or ASD it’s not clear even the

families with autistic didn’t know how to deal with their autistic child , special during

the COVID-19 lockdown, It's been a difficult time for parents, autistic children and

social workers. Autism children who are difficult to deal with, and parents don't have

a good knowledge, And the centers are closed which causes parents to have a lot of

psychological pressure and more stress. and autistic children because parents didn't

know how to deal with these children correctly so the children also had a hard time.

The same way for social workers was a difficult situation because written online

guideline was a new way they couldn't offer a good guide to parents.

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1.3 Research Aims The aim of this study is:

_ the role of social worker in helping autistic parent’s to how treat with their autistic child

during the lockdown

_How much do parent’s benefit from written online guideline lessons during the lockdown

_ enhance parenting awareness to reduce the kinds of problems they face.

1.4 Research Question

_What was the kind of problem parents with autistic children experience during

the COVID-19 lockdown and closure of the Hana autism center between March

to September Erbil?

_Have the social workers been able to provide written online guideline to parents of their

client autistic children on how to deal with their autistic children during the lockdown?

_ What adverse effect did the lack of a good Internet service have on the relationship

between parents and social workers during the lockdown ?

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1.5 Definition of Concepts

Social worker: is a helping professional who is distinguished from other human service

professionals by a focus on both the individual and his or her environment, social workers

have at least a bachelor’s degree from an accredited education program and in most states

they must be licensed, certified, or registered. A Master’s in Social Work is required for

those who provide psychotherapy or work in specific settings such as hospitals or nursing

homes.(Gibelman, Marget.2021).

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD): is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by

deficits in social communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive.

There have been recent concerns about increased prevalence (Hodges, Fealke and

Soares.2020).

Awareness: two different current definitions of awareness are contrasted. One definition,

used in recent masked-prime studies, is objective and equates awareness with the ability

to make forced-choice decisions above a chance level of performance. The second

definition, proposed by Henley (1984),is subjective and simply equates awareness with

self-reports indicating that an observer “consciously sees’’ a stimulus. It is concluded that

a better objective measure of awareness is needed to distinguish the subjective states of

“seeing’’ and “not seeing’’ a stimulus ( Merikle. 2013).

Guidelines: by comparison, are a set of directions intended to influence the social

worker’s behavior and decisions. Guidelines are essentially lists of do’s and don’ts. They

might be used when working with a specific type of client (e.g., a child or a client with

mental illness) or when carrying out workload management tasks (e.g., recording or

writing reports) (Sheafor and Charles.1988).

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Coronavirus (covid-19): since December 2019, a series of pneumonia cases has been

reported in wuhan, china. On January 12 , 2020, the world Health organization (WHO)

temporarily named this new virus as the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).on

February 11, 2020, the WHO officially named the disease caused by the 2019-nCoV as

Corona Virus Disease(covid-19).the covid-19 epidemic is spreading all over the world,

specially in china. Based on the published evidence (sun et al.2020).

Quarantine: is the restriction of persons who are presumed to have been exposed to a

contagious disease but are not ill. It may be applied at the individual, group, or community

level and usually involves restriction to the home or designated facility. Quarantine may

be voluntary or mandatory (Cetron and Landwirth .2005).

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Chapter Two: literature Review Our topic is new, we didn’t found a specific research about our research topic, so because

of this we talk about some previous research that in away have a relation with our research.

So first we explain briefly what autism is. Autism spectrum disorder is a complex

developmental condition that involves persistent challenges in social interaction, speech

and nonverbal communication, and repetitive behaviors. The effects of autism and the

severity of symptoms are different in each person. Autism spectrum disorder is usually

first diagnosed in childhood with many of the most-obvious signs presenting around 2-3

years old, but some children with autism develop normally until toddlerhood when they

stop acquiring or lose previously gained skills . (APA . American Psychiatric Association).

And there are three facts about autistic child. First one is Autism can affect any child,

through many research they realise that one in 110 children has autism. second fact is

there is no known cause of autism in this fact Many theories exist about how or why a

child develops autism, but no one really knows for sure .And the third fact is that there is

no cure for autism research has shown that with early intervention and continued

therapies, autistic child can lead an independent, good and happy life. (The Iowa Department

of Education Early Childhood Services Bureau. April 2010).

And there are some ways that can help parents with autistic child which is important to

every parent. First way is when a parent have autistic child first they have to starting

therapies in an early age of their child this will be useful for them, the second way is

talking to your child during routine activities. And third way is Create opportunities for

your child to interact with you, and others. For example, store favourite toys out of reach

so your child must come to you and ask for them. (The Iowa Department of Education Early

Childhood Services Bureau. April 2010).

A research done by Seung Eun McDevitt in china “ a qualitative research the case study

highlights one online parent education and training (PET) program developed during the

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pandemic to offer home-intervention strategies to parents of children with ASD in

mainland China. This exploratory study sought to examine the emic perspectives of the

trainers and parents who participated in the 12-week intensive training program while

considering the cultural context in China and the transnational, remote nature of the

program.” The conclusion of this research is “ The online PET program became a hub of

support networks and learning spaces for parents of children with ASD in different regions

in China during the pandemic. Through the interactive virtual training sessions, parents

were supported by continuous feedback on their home intervention and coached to

cultivate support networks among themselves despite tensions arising from cultural

differences and to implement effective intervention strategies that were individualized and

authenticated to their specific familial needs “ (Research in developmental disabilities . February

2021).

As we all know that Because of spreading the Coronavirus and the Lockdown all of the

schools are closed. So UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE AUTISM

TEAM provided some strategies to support online learning for individuals with ASD. so

these strategies are include the below Create a learning space, Create a schedule, Maintain

healthy habits & take breaks So create a learning space is about that the autistic parents

have to provide a quiet area in their home that can be used for online learning, but that

area should be different from the common area that used by the child such as eating,

playing, sleeping. Briefly the area should be quiet and the fewer distraction. Create a

schedule this one is about having a monthly and weekly and daily schedule is very

important and make the parents responsibility’s easer or more organise. for example

making a schedule for the daily work such as the three time of eating food and the time of

online class, time of playing, sleeping…Maintain healthy habits &take breaks: is talk

about that during the daily routine the parent’s should take care to physical and emotional

side of their child, they have to provide some happy time for their child such as dancing,

yard work, play ball and take a walk, and also when the child is in the class online they

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have to take a break and in that of period time of the break the parents have to making

some snack meals for their child. (Sam at all ,2020).

“Individual therapy, Group therapy, Family therapy with the patient, Family therapy

without patient and care coordination, these are some important roles of social workers in

autism centre which is the autistic child getting benefits from and even the parents benefits

from it , because facilitate parents job or care in front of their autistic child , first one is

individual therapy which means individual treatment is for targeting specific area of

concern ( anxiety , mood ,attention and emotional regulation for children’s aches 4-17).

Second is Group therapy which includes Small-group, short-term treatment for children,

adolescents, and parents that seeks to increase awareness and improve specific skills to

achieve participants’ goals. Third one is Family therapy with the patient is about

Counseling designed to support overall family functioning, building on family strengths

and attachments, and/or cope with recent changes or ongoing areas of difficulties . Forth

one is Family therapy without patient is about Supportive treatment for caregivers to

develop new routines and strategies to respond to their child’s emotional, behavioral,

social, and medical needs. Caregivers may also wish to meet together to address concerns

and work on problem-solving, in order to enhance the caregivers’ ability to parent their

child. And the last one is care coordination is about This service involves working with

caregivers to plan, seek, and advocate for required resources that will support the family

in caring for their child. (Kennedy Krieger institute).

According to an other research which done by Gray, He seeks to know the social

experience of those parents who have autistic child .so in this research Gray focused on

how parents experienced “normal family life”. In (1993&2002) Gray did his research on

comparing an autistic parent and normal parent. so during his research he noticed that

autistic parent their life are hard and more different because they were face struggles in

their life because of their autistic child and they face a lack communication and

relationship with the society and their life is close and they are isolated from the society

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than the other normal parents. And Gray during his research noticed that the autistic

parents felt stigmatised, parents of aggressive. But the other normal parents don’t felt like

autistic parents, their life is normal. So finally Gray according to his research and through

the cooperation between autistic parents and normal parents he conclude that the

difference is their daily life routine. (Woodgate, Ateah and Secco.2008).

According to COVID-19 and Autism research, this research is talk about that because of

the spreading of COVID-19 disease and the lock down in whole of the world, caused to

significant change in life styles. So being a parent in this situation was not easy for

everyone. specially for parent’s who have children with special need. Also this research

it talks about that shutting down of special education system this was very bad for autistic

parents, because they lost a vital support network and they have to be sole full time care

to their autistic child. Despite often lacking the parent’s skills to cope with this new

situation. So in this research the researcher interviewed the autistic parent, then realised

the main difficulties faced by homebound autistic children. One of that difficulties is

changing in routine, Lack of special education services, Physical space ,Food and sleep-

time . So according to the gathered information by the researcher from the interview,

realised that during the lockdown some of children experienced worsening in behavioural

and social and developmental domains. But some of them they seemed they aren’t only

controlled over the situation even they benefit from it. And the researcher noticed that the

children’s success or failure is directly related to how their parent’s coped, so The results

of this analysis or this research is revealed that the best way to benefit autistic children

caught up in drastic changes in their routine lifestyle is to invest in a strong support system

for their parents. (Latzer , Leitner and Miller . January,12,2021).

Spreading of COVID-19 and the lockdown is very difficult for everybody and is a new

situation so everyone doesn’t know to how treating with this situation and how to protect

ourselves. Especially for the parents is more difficult particularly the parents who have

autistic child. So the children benefit in this situation is have a relation with their parent’s

cope, so we do this research because of some reason, the important one is that in our

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society have the lack of information about the illnesses. Specially mental health illness.

So we prefer to do a research on ASD , to know the the role of social worker in autism

centre and the role of social worker in raising awareness of families with autistic children

and to know what are the struggles that the parents facing in their life and how they live

, how is the parents feelings that they have autistic child and how much their

responsibilities are different from the normal parents , To know the rate of information of

our society and their reactions or their treatment with the autistic child and even with the

autistic parent’s, so if we explain why we do our research on autism particularly during

the lockdown ? so the answer is that as we all know that having a children educate , care

and take the responsibility to them is hard so what if the child isn’t normal and have

autism. It’s hard to the parents to accept this reality and used to it and dealing or treating

with them as they need or according to what kind of care that illness need, and the parents

responsibilities is different from the other normal parents.

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Chapter Three: Methodology

3.1 Method

The methodology approach for this study that we are going to use is qualitative approach,

which include semi- structured questionnaire. so while qualitative approach it can used to

gather in-depth detail we are decided to use this approach due to our research because of

some reasons, one of them is that our topic research is a specific and new topic so we need

to gather more detailed information about the role of social worker in raising awareness

of families with autistic child and the obstacles that the autistic parents faced during the

Lockdown. And also because our population research is a small so we can interview with

the related interviewee to our research population, if our population research were a public

we were use the qualitative approach but because of our research population is small or is

not public so because of that we choose qualitative approach, and also because our

research topic is new so we need to more detail.

While choosing qualitative research method we are decided to use interview method for

data collection. And while choosing interview method for data collection we are going to

use unstructured interview which includes Open-ended question with interviewees.

Our sampling population will be in Erbil city in Hana centre (Hana centre is a charity

centre for autistic children in Erbil city and was built in 2016, also include 13 rooms for

exercise and playing and its conclude of 60-70 autistic child. and about the samples we

will take 7 samples, and we will divide the questions on two groups which is the social

worker in Hana centre and autistic parent’s. Also we will start to data collection in 29

February 2021. And will end until 9 March 2021, and the data collection will be face to

face and the interview time is around 30 minutes. But if we face struggles because of any

reason may we need to use Google form and we will send to our research population.

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3.2 Data Analysis

As in the previous part of our research we indicated that we took five autism owned

parents and also two social worker in the Hana centre. And we prepared a list of

questionnaire for both social workers and parents. We interviewed each of them separately

face to face , according to the data we received from the interview we found the following

question:

In response to question which is “how is the relationship between autism-owned parents

and social workers at Hana Autism charity centre before the lockdown?

During our interviewing with the parents, in the answer of question it become clear to us,

the parents indicated that there was a strong relationship between them and social workers

before the lockdown. the parent were always in contact with The social workers to get

information whenever they were face problems or difficulties in dealing with their autistic

child before the lockdown, four of the five parents that we interviewed with them indicated

that children were happy at the centre whenever they come back home were crying and

make us boring and they want to go back again to the centre or they want ply a game that

they didn’t have it so that time we call to the social workers and they advise us to do some

simple exercise or plying that will make hir/ his feeling happy. We during the interview

also found out that the parents usually spends time with the social workers to ask or

receiving advice after handing their child to the centre, to know about their autistic child’s

level and to know if their child is comfortable and gets benefits from the daily routine of

the centre such as plying , drawing and doing exercise always try to know new information

about their autistic child.

In our interview with the social workers of the same centre as they indicated that the

relationship between them and the parents was strong relationship before the lockdown,

because the parents were spend time with social worker to ask and advise so the social

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workers are helping the parents . Also they indicated that the parents were taking a much

care to their autistic child. because when they were come to the centre they were always

ask about their autistic child’s level or if their child is comfortable and they have any

problem such as fighting with another child or crying to home or any thing that makes the

child feel boring inside the centre . and also when they were face a problem in how treating

with their child they were call us and we were helping them .even one of the social worker

indicated that most of the parents face that their child is hyper activeness in the home and

even when they are at their relatives home and this make as boring so they call us what

should we do to decrease their movement. So the social workers advise them to not do a

pressure on their child and tell him sit don’t move , they have to be patient and let them

until him/herself will sitting down.

When we asked this questions to the parents “How did parents deal with their autistic

children during the lockdown? and ( What was the problems that parents faced during the

lockdown?)”

We found out that the parents responsibility increased because of occurring, the pandemic

and this led to the lockdown and the Hana centre were closed, The autism owned parents

were shocked and they being under a lot of stress and worry because the centre were

closed and all autistic child were get back to the home. So this lead to their difficulties

gets hard as it’s become clear to us that their difficulties was that their autistic child were

not express , clear, when he or she wants something and also because of the change that

occurred in the autistic child’s routine and their sleeping time so this was a problem for

both the parents and autistic child , because when their autistic child’s sleeping time

change their mood being bad so then they were make a noises or they were cry and make

the parents boring. However despite all the difficulties and responsibilities of the parents,

the parents were very helpful, patient with their child.

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According to the parents answers to these questions “were parents able to benefit from

social worker’s help during the lockdown? How? And the response of some workers to

the question “In what field did a social workers help parents during the lockdown?”

According to the answer of this question we found out that the type of the communication

between parents and social workers were by a phone and also they indicated that when the

parents were facing a problem in any time except of the middle of night, and the social

worker have been always very patient and kind to the parents calls . so one of the fifth

parents that we interviewed indicated that “one day in the evening my autistic child was

want a phone so I didn’t gave her because it’s bad for autistic child to use phone too much

so she started to cry and not stop so I called one of the social worker in hana centre so he

advise the parent to play with her and spend time with to forget the phone. So the only

person who cooperate and guide the parents. They are social workers. The parents get so

much information from the social worker through call, so we think that the social worker

help for autism owned parents was a good job and the parent gets much benefit from social

worker.

Also the social workers indicated that the parents when facing a problem in how to deal

with their child when is moving to much or crying for some thing they were call to us and

we were advise them and reward them to get a benefit from the formal page of the Hana

centre which is full of exercise and play video.

When we asked this questions to the parent “what good effect would having a good

internet have on the relationship between parents and social workers during the

lockdown?) And (What adverse effect did the lack of good internet have on the

relationship between parents and social workers during the lockdown?) (Did the social

worker’s provide online guidance for autistic parents during the lockdown?”

When we ask this question to the social workers and parents

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They responded that the centre didn’t provided any online guidance during the lockdown

for parents get benefits from it , because the centre weren’t prepared for a situation such

as occurring pandemic and lockdown and didn’t provided online guidance. And also if the

centre or the social worker were provided an online guidance surely the bad and good

internet were have effect on the relationship between social worker and autism owned

parent because as we noticed through the interviewees we realised that 2of the autism

owned parent were poor and even if there was an online guidance they were not get much

benefit from it. Also social workers indicated that their centre even themselves weren’t

prepared themselves for a situation such as this, so because of this they weren’t provided

any online guidance so the social workers indicated that because of not having online

guidance the relationship between them and the parents were a little. However on their

Facebook page the centre were posting educational videos, awareness video, awareness

raising video, so the parents were getting a little benefit from it because the videos were

not cover all kind of the solution to the difficulties that the parents face , also before the

lockdown the parents didn’t visit the Facebook page of the centre as much as they visited

during the lockdown because before the lockdown the centre were open and the parents

responsibilities were not too much .

In the response of this question “For how long did your child stay home or couldn’t go to

the centre due to the lockdown?”Through interviewing with the parents and their speech,

we found out that the child had to stay home for three month, at march to Jun. also the

parents indicated that because that bad situation they were wait everyday for opening the

centre and the situation gets better and they send back their child to the centre but they

indicated that the situation gets worse and they being hopeless because their

responsibilities gets hard during the lockdown, even one of the five parents that we

interviewed with indicated that “ being a mother and father of normal children is very

hard and it’s all responsibility so What if being a parent of autism child that they are

sensitive and needs special care and healthy exercise “ also we notice that most of the

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parents were very tired and under stress with their autistic child And they will do their

best to the sake of protecting their autistic child's level of illness. And they were spend

their all time to take care to the autistic one , even the time of their another children . Also

during the three month instead the child’s level of autism gets better was opposite and the

autistic child’s level gets low ., also we notice that with opening the Hana centre , the

parents were very happy because their responsibility were decreased And their artistic

child's level Get a little better rather than they were in the lock down.

We asked the same question to the social workers and during our interviewing they

indicated with opening the centre after three month of the lockdown at March to Jun the

parents were very excited and they were send back their children enthusiastically. And

during our interviewing we found out that even the social workers feel happy with the

opening the centre because they come back to their work and as soon as they will control

the decreased rate of autistic child’s autism.

The responses of the social worker to questions that we asked to the social worker

In this question that we ask to the social workers “What were the problems faced by social

workers and were unable to help parents during the lockdown?”

According to our interview with the social worker it becomes clear to us that the social

worker were ready and want to help parents through online guidance but the centre

weren’t proved any online guidance or schedule , so both of the social worker that we

interviewed with them the problem that they face was that there was not online guidance

been provided for parents to share enough information and knowledge to the parents , and

also the social workers were ready to visit parents but because of the lockdown they

couldn’t because everyone when want to go outside should have a permission of the

institution. such as the doctors to be able to visit the parents who are very needed to us

because the level of their autistic child is high so need to someone such us have experience

to treat the right treatment with the child and keep or decreasing the autism level.

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In the response of this question according to social worker’s responses the question “did

social workers been able to provide online guidance to help parents how?”

Because it was the responsibility of the centre to provide written online guideline to

treating with autistic child .but the social workers were independently not able to provide

written online guideline but they did a good job which was helping autism owned parent

and co-operates with them over the phone by guiding them how to treat their autistic child

and they can visit the formal page of the centre which is full of exercise and play video

which are is very beneficial for the autism owned parent.

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Chapter Four

4.1 Findings and Discussion

In our research during the interview that we did with interviewees we get some findings,

For instance a sensitive centre such as this which special with autistic children should

have written online guideline for parents to get benefits from it or even should have written

guidance for parents in a situation such as the lockdown. Even though the centre have

Facebook page which have been provided for parents before the lockdown to get benefits

from it but it’s not full of detailed information for parent.

So When we visited the formal Facebook page of the centre we found out that the page

is in some way is useful which is containing a lot of exercise and play video which parents

can benefits from it but not all of the parents because the centre were not provided a full

detail about how the parents should deal with their child when they face a problem and

also some of parents didn’t gets benefits from the page because their autistic child’s level

were high so they were need to an experienced person such as social worker do deal with

their child and doing exercise with her/his so that’s why they were not depended on the

page .so should be there is a booklet which covers all kind of the situation for parents

specially whom are their autistic child’s level is in a very high, also we found out that the

page were a little active during the lockdown .

Another findings was that four of fifth parents that we interviewed with them indicated

that their responsibilities gets hard during the lockdown because before the lockdown the

father were at the job but even though when they get jobless because of the lockdown the

responsibilities were still on us as a mother, so here we think that this is part of culture

that should on the mother to take care to the children and homework, also during our

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interviewing with parents and as they indicated that we found out that the father were have

a little role of taking care to their autistic child, even one of the fifth parents that we

interviewed with them said that “ before the lockdown my responsibilities were hard but

when the centre closed gets harder and my husband helping me a little just when I do

homework or cooking he will take care to child “

Also it becomes clear to us according to the data that we gathered when the centre closed

caused to the lockdown so that lead to that children went to home for three months so that

was have negative impact on the autistic children because instead their level stop in level

or gets better but gets more bad than before .

Also another findings of our research is that During the lockdown social workers were

feel of responsibility and they were help parents when they call them and tell the social

workers the problem that they facing because of their autistic child , so the parents were

feel happy with the social workers help because the only person was social worker that

make the parents responsibilities a little easy so we think that the social workers help for

the parents was for two reasons, one of them was because they show their humanity and

second because if during the lockdown they were not help the parent when the centre will

open the responsibilities will be on themselves because during the lockdown the autism

level of the autistic child’s gets low .

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4.2 Conclusion

First of all we choose a topic which is about the role of social workers in raising awareness of families with autistic children during the COVID-19 lockdown because when we choose the topic because it was the time of occurring The COVID-19 and lockdown and there was no a research on this topic have been done . Autism is a disease that affects the growth of the mind in children, This causes a number of differences between the autistic children and normal children , which contain to disruption of social communication capabilities and also cause to another thing as It can lead to limited and repetitive activities, behaviors, and desires The COVID-19 and the lockdown was a sudden situation caused to closing The centre and the autistic child went back to the home . so we wanted to know in such a sudden situation when the children are force to go back to the home and how the parents deal with their autistic child and also we wanted to know what is the role of social worker during the lockdown for decreasing the responsibilities of parents . So we found out that because of none written online guideline , the sudden COVID-19 lockdown , the lack of parents information and no preparation of the centre for a sudden situation caused to increasing in the responsibilities of parents and were very hard to them to deal with their autistic children. During the research that have been done we found out that the social workers tried to be helpful for the parents through phone , supporting parents by their help and advised them to get benefits from the awareness raising video and exercise video that have been shared in the formal page of the Hana centre and the social workers were responded to the parents calls . in the result when the centre got opened and the children got back to the centre their behaviour or level got worse and this was very hard for the social workers to start from the beginning and promote the autistic child’s behaviour or level . And our challenge was that because the topic was new we faced difficulties about collecting references on the topic so we depend on the answer of the interviewees also another challenge was hard to us to interview with the parents because they were in a hurry to go back to the home .

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4.3 Recommendation

During our research we noticed that there is no preparation or a plan for unpredictable

situation so we think that there is some recommendations that should be done

_ It should always be a replacement for undesired or unpredictable situation for the

parents, so should be an written online guideline to the parents when they can’t send their

child to the center because of unpredictable situation to get benefits from it.

_ even if the center were not able to provide an written online guideline and the parents

have not a good internet so that time the centre should provide at least an schedule which

contain to all ways of how treating with the child or when they get bored or cry what the

parents should do.

_ also we recommend to the parents to not always depend on the social worker they have

to try different ways to get information about the autism and the treatment.

_ also we recommend that should be sometimes the center or social worker present

seminars about autism and the treatment for the parents to get new information and

benefits from it.

_ also should on the government to provide a financial support to the center.

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Appendices

Consent form

Mr. participant

As student of the social work department of the college of literature , we have conducted

scientific research on The Role of Social Worker in Raising Awareness of Families with

Autistic Children , A field study in Erbil city. The questionnaire includes some general

question about how the social workers awareness autism owned parent . I would be

grateful if you would share your experiences and your views about this topic .

If you agree to take part in the study:

1_ you are expected to answer the questions honestly. If any of the questions do not seem

clear to you, feel free to ask me.

2_ your name will not be recorded and your identity will not be revealed. You can be

assured that participation is anonymous. The information collected will only be used for

the purpose of this study and will not be passed on to anyone else.

3_although it will help to have a full set of responses, you may leave any question you do

not wish to answer.

I appreciate your participation and support in advance.

( ) I Would like to participate in this research

Signature………………………. Date……………………….

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First group

Parents:

1. How is the relationship between autism-owned parents and social workers at Hana

Autism Charity center?

2. How did parents deal with their autistic children during the lockdown?

3. What was the problem that parents faced during the lockdown?

4. What benefit did parents take from written online guideline by social worker?

5. Were parents able to benefit from social worker’s help during the lockdown? How?

6. What good effect would having a good internet have on the relationship between parents

and social workers during the lockdown?

7. What adverse effect did the lack of good internet have on the relationship between

parents and social workers during the lockdown?

8. Did the social worker’s provide written online guideline for autistic parents during the

lockdown?

9. For how long did your child stay home or couldn’t go to the centre due to the lockdown?

10. Did social workers been able to provide written online guideline to help parents how?

Second group

Social workers:

1. How is the relationship between autism-owned parents and social workers at Hana

Autism Charity center?

2. How did the social worker help parents during the lockdown?

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3. Did social workers been able to provide written online guideline to help parents?

4. What good effect would have a good internet have on the relationship between

parents and social workers during the lockdown?

5. What adverse effect did the lack of good internet have on the relationship between

parents and social workers during the lockdown?

6. What were the problems faced by social workers and were unable to help parents during

the lockdown?

7. Did social workers been able to provide written online guideline to help parents how?