The Effects of Autism on the Family

As the oldest statewide program serving autistic people in the United States, North Carolina's Division TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication handicapped CHildren) has had a major impact on ser­ vices for these people and their families. As we move into our second decade, we are frequently questioned about all aspects of our procedures, techniques, and program. Of all the questions that are asked, however, the one that comes up most frequently and seems to set our program apart from others concerns the ways in which we work with families. To help answer this question we identified what we have found to be the major components in our parent-professional relationships, and we elaborate on these with the most current research informa­ tion, clinical insights, and community knowledge available through the expertise of our distinguished contributors. Our purpose was to collect the most recent information and to organize the resulting volume along the outlines of the par­ ent-professional relationship found most important in the TEACCH program. Thus, the four main sections of the book include these four major ways profes­ sionals work with parents: as their advocates, their trainers, their trainees, and their reciprocal emotional support source. To the extent this effort was success­ ful, we acknowledge that it is easier to organize book chapters along these dimensions than it is to provide their implementation in the field.