We're all in This Together: Family systems Theory and Communication

Abstract

Family Systems Theory, nested in a bioecological systems model (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) emphasises the existence of sub-systems within the family. The functions of the systems are considered to involve support, regulation, nurturance and socialisation. Family interactions are the processes in the conceptual framework that include the marital subsystem (interaction between spouses), parental subsystem (interaction between parents and children), the sibling subsystem (interaction among siblings), and the extended family subsystem (interaction between the nuclear and extended family). Families of young children with autism experience higher levels of stress that present challenges to the interdependency of the family system. This paper presents the findings from three Irish research projects including Project Iris (Rose, Shevlin, Winter & O’Raw 2015). This paper provides a discussion platform for parents, siblings, and other family members, educators and policy makers from an international perspective. In particular it calls for and invites more intense research on language and communication for families with members identified as being on the autism spectrum. The emerging finding provides evidence to support learning and language development through a ‘whole’ child perspective and argues for a substantial improvement in supporting parents as leaders of learning. Attention is drawn to the seriousness of horizontal and vertical stresses that families experience and how these stresses impact on their functional relationships.