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The aim of this study was to examine the internal consistency and factor structure of the Traditional Chinese version of the Impact on Family Scale in order to make cross cultural comparisons. The Traditional Chinese version of the scale was administered to 137 Hong Kong Chinese parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Two short versions of the scale based on 15 and 11 items were examined to investigate whether the single factor of the short scale from the United States could be replicated. The shortened version of the Impact on Family Scale has the potential to be useful for cross-cultural comparisons between United States and Traditional Chinese samples.

An investigation of parents' perspectives on family life with a child with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) in Negara Brunei Darussalam (Brunei) and the socio-cultural context in which these families function was conducted. It has been suggested that the impact of a child with a developmental disability, like autism spectrum disorder, on the family appears to be related to demographic; child and parent characteristics (Dur-Vila, Dein, & Hodes, 2010). Thirty sets of Bruneian parents with children with ASD aged between 4-12 years were surveyed regarding the impact of having a child with autism on family functioning. The investigator found that based on the results from the Impact on Family Scale (Stein & Reissman, 2004) that the financial situation, social interaction within and outside the home, and the subjective distress felt by the parents were found to be high on impact. Content analyses of the narrative data indicated that parents' Islamic faith influenced their coping with rearing a child with ASD in Brunei. This study highlights the need for further investigation of parent adjustment in terms of Islamic cultural influence, the context, help seeking and support service uptake. (Contains 1 table and 5 figures.)

Australian education service provision includes the delivery of quality educational programmes to rural and remote living children. However, according to their parents, many children with developmental disabilities (such as Down Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders) who are living in rural country areas in New South Wales (NSW) still do not have access to an acceptable education programme. This study aimed to use quality of life factors via a family quality of life scale to explore 51 parents' experience of educational service provision for their children with developmental disabilities in rural NSW. The results indicated that successful engagement with the school system is strongly affected by the views, assumptions, expertise and prejudices of teaching and care professionals. Further research into how local educational service providers may assist rural Australian families with a child with IDD in rural and remote locations is warranted.

Little is known about the experience of Chinese parents of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) living in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Seventy-five parents of children (aged 6 months-18 years) with ASD diagnoses completed the Family Quality of Life Scale. Forty-five parents from the original surveyed cohort, also participated in semi-structured interviews. Parents' perceptions of their child's disability were influenced both by their cultural background and by the limited and expensive, pre- and post-diagnostic services available. Longer waiting times to diagnosis were associated with lower emotional well-being and perceived disability-related support. Clinicians are encouraged to become part of the support network for parents of children with ASD, to help parents to adjust to caring for their child.

AbstractWe sought to determine if the Hearing and Talking Scale (HATS)—a tool developed to assess the communication, speech, and language development of Indigenous Australian children—might be applicable to Indigenous Australian children with autism. A HATS assessment was completed with four Indigenous Australian children. The children were aged 3–5 years and had been diagnosed with autism. The results were compared to scores from the Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale (REEL-4), which is a standardised, norm-referenced assessment of expressive and receptive language development. The children’s early childhood teachers served as informants. Both the HATS and REEL-4 identified varying degrees of communication impairment suggesting that their combined use may represent a culturally appropriate and feasible communication assessment strategy. Future research into the reliability and validity of the HATS for assessing the communicative functioning of young Indigenous Australian children with autism or other types of developmental disabilities or delay is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]