PENGALAMAN KELUARGA DALAM UPAYA MENCARI KESEMBUHAN ANAK DENGAN MASALAH AUTIS

In Indonesia, it is estimated that there are around 2.4 million people with autism with an additional 500 people per year. The family plays a very important role in helping the child's development. Parents who incorrectly provide care for children can form autistic children become less independent and not aware of their cleanliness. Parents who tend to spoil children can always serve every need of autistic children, including bathing or just brushing their teeth, so that children can become less independent. While authoritarian parents will educate children with autism with strict instructions without guiding children to be independent so that children with autism will tend to be less independent and even indifferent to cleanliness themselves. The impact of family support if not given to children with autism is that the child will experience a developmental decline that a child should have reached for developmental tasks according to his age. The design of this study uses the case study method. The sampling method used is purposive sampling. Samples taken as many as 3 respondents, namely families who have children with autism in the village of Awar-awar, Situbondo, in November 2019. The research data was taken using interviews with 3 respondents. After being tabulated, the data were analyzed using analysis of time series and explanatory analysis. The results found 3 themes of family experience in caring for autistic children. The theme is to strive for general education and religion, seek pharmacological treatment and the last to seek non-pharmacological therapy in the form of massage therapy and sakalor oil. From this theme it can be concluded that the family optimally cared for children with autism so that the child could grow like other normal children