ПОРОДИЧНО ОБРАЗОВАЊЕ ЗА ДЕЦУ СА СМЕТЊАМА РАЗВОЈА ИЗ СПЕКТРА АУТИЗМА У МАКЕДОНИЈИ: Family Education For Children With ASD In Macedonia

It has been theoretically and practically proven that Autism Spectrum Disorder affects the whole family. Family education is very important for understanding child’s condition and behavior. That kind of education usually is developed in US and Western countries and it is typically unavailable in South-East Europe and Balkans. Therefore, the ESIPP (Equity and Social Inclusion through Positive Parenting) project has been established to develop and provide family education for Croatian, Cypriot and Macedonian families. Through the project 335 family members in total were trained and a parent education curriculum and locally differentiated materials were developed. Also recommendations for European policymakers were developed. This paper presents the findings of the study regarding the 70 Macedonian family members. Family education was developed on the base of a specific research methodology that included pre-parent education questionnaires (n=70), post-parent education questionnaires (n=42) (both of which included a validated Quality of Life scale) and semistructured interviews (n=16). Key findings relate to the impact of ASD on quality of life, families’ experience of stigma and isolation, the inadequacy of professional support and the importance of family support. The benefits of family education and its positive impact on parental happiness and relational issues are identified and sustainability of project through trained trainers is established.