Difficulties faced by children with autism spectrum disorders after an earthquake: a study from parents' perspectives.

This study looked at how the 2023 earthquake in Turkey affected children with autism. Parents reported their children struggled more with daily routines like eating, toileting, and self-care after the earthquake. Children's schoolwork suffered and they had more behavioral problems. Parents also had trouble getting health services. The researchers suggest using technology like video therapy and involving families more during disasters to help autistic children cope better.

This qualitative study examined the impact of the February 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake on 22 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) through parent interviews in Malatya, Turkey. Following the earthquake, parents reported significant disruptions to their children's daily routines, leading to declines in educational performance, health routines, and basic self-care skills including toileting and eating. Children experienced increased behavioral and emotional problems due to routine interruptions and social isolation. Parents also faced difficulties accessing health and social services post-disaster.

The study recommends developing alternative education models during disasters, integrating technology-based interventions like ABA, mobile tools, and teletherapy into disaster response policies, and encouraging active family involvement in supporting children with ASD during crisis periods.

Clinicians should develop disaster preparedness plans for autistic clients, including routine maintenance strategies and technology-based service delivery options. Emergency response systems need specialized protocols for ASD populations. Families require education about maintaining structure during crises and accessing alternative support services.

Small sample size (22 parents) from single geographic location limits generalizability. Qualitative design provides descriptive insights but lacks quantitative measures of impact severity. Parent-reported outcomes may be subject to recall bias. No control group or pre-disaster baseline data for comparison.

The February 6, 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake severely affected 11 provinces in Türkiye, disrupting services for vulnerable groups. This research aims to examine the difficulties that children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face in education, health, and social support services from the parental perspective following the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023. The research used a basic qualitative research method and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 parents residing in Malatya, which was affected by the earthquake. The data obtained were examined with content analysis method.

Students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder have been found to experience significant declines in their educational performance, health routines (in adapting to them) and basic skills such as going to the toilet, eating and self-care. At the same time, parents faced difficulties in accessing health and social services. As a result of the research, it was determined that the interruption of the daily routines of children diagnosed with ASD and their alienation from their social environments after the disaster increased behavioral and emotional problems. It was emphasized that alternative education models should be developed for children diagnosed with ASD during disaster periods and families should be encouraged to take an active role in this process.

Following disasters, ABA practices, mobile tools and teletherapy should be integrated into technology-based disaster response policies to continue ASD training and therapy.