A u t i s m : O p e n A c c e s s ISSN: 2165-7890 Autism - Open Access OPEN ACCESS Freely available online Research Article 1 Autism Open Access, Vol. 9 Iss. 4 No: 244 Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder on Family Rabea Begum 1 *, Firoz Ahmed Mamin 2 1 Department of Physiotherapy, Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh; 2 Department of Rehabilitation Science, Bangladesh Health Professions Institute (BHPI), CRP, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh ABSTRACT Background: Autism is a complex syndrome which consists of a set of developmental and behavioral features. Children with autism face different challenges in family and as well as society. Aim: The aim of this study was to find out the impact of autism impact on family. Method: A narrative review was done to conduct this study. Findings: Autism has a persistent impact on the family, economic status, sibling and considerably modifies the lifestyle of each member of the family. Conclusion: This study strongly found that whole family members are affected by the condition of children with Autism. Keywords: Autism; Maternal impact; Impact on father; Sibling impact; Impact on financial status *Correspondence to: Rabea Begum, Senior Clinical Physiotherapist, Department of Physiotherapy, Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP), Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tel: +8801675793257; E-mail: drrabea3@gmail.com; maminphysio@gmail.com Received: October 23, 2019; Accepted: November 22, 2019; Published: November 29, 2019 Citation: Begum R, Mamin FA (2019) Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder on Family. Autism Open Access 9: 244. doi: 10.35248/2165- 7890.19.09.244. Copyright: © 2019 Begum R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. BACKGROUND Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is a gathering of neurological disorders with severe developmental disability that create problems with thinking, feeling, language and interaction with others. This is a lifelong developmental disability that limit social, educational, occupational and other important demands in every stage of life. Now a days ASD is becoming more prevalent in society and it affects more in males than females. Overall ASD prevalence estimates varied from 5.7 to 21.9 per 1,000 children aged 8 years in United States [1]. The World Health Organization estimated that 0.76% of the world’s children had ASD in 2010 but there is lack of evidence in low- and middle-income countries [2]. The Autistic children’s welfare foundation estimated that there are approximately 3,00,000 children are affected by ASD in Bangladesh and boys one in every 94 and for girl one in 150 affected by autism in Bangladesh [3]. The literature did not find any specific neuropathologic feature which has yet been documented. The neuroimaging findings suggested in case of children with autism an increased brain volume is predominately a function of increased white matter volume [4]. Diagnosis of Autism is very difficult because there is no definite medical test. In this circumstance the professional chooses the assessments and diagnostic tools. The American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013. It is now the standard reference that healthcare providers use to diagnose mental and behavioral conditions, including autism. The ICD-10 is the most commonly-used diagnostic manual in the UK. The DSM and ICD-10 criteria both create the foundation for diagnostic tool of Autism. Screening for ASD, the Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set up a visit at the age of 18 months and 24 months towards professionals [5]. The risk of Autism is associated with several factors. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses suggested more than 20 individual, familial, pre-, peri- and neonatal factors are meeting evidence for ASD risk [6-9]. The parental ages are one of responsible risk factor for developing ASD. Older aged mother and also father are responsible for having children with this disorder [10]. ASD is associated with first born baby. A study stated that firstborn children had a higher increased risk of autism [11]. Research suggested that ASD may be caused by genetic and or environmental factors [12]. The authors detailed that accurate cause of autism is still unknown but there is a significant association between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder [13]. Another study found that no relationship between vaccines and