Refrigerator Mothers - Grade: A PDF

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Sample of the Refrigerator Mothers paper from a movie on Refrigerator Mothers....

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Aaron Lettman AUTS 250G 18/09/2020 Jennifer Call Refrigerator Mothers No one really understands where autism comes from. It’s a sad and frustrating diagnosis, and there’s usually a lot of guilt or blame taken on by the parents. The documentary talks about the theory of Refrigerator Mothers, an idea used to explain why some children were autistic. According to Dr. Bruno Bettelheim, the term “Refrigerator Mother” refers to a mother who rejects her child, pays less attention to him and lacks warmth, which causes the child to become autistic. Bettelheim literally blames mothers for the autism, because he thinks that they do not show the love their child needs. As a result, the child will have autistic tendencies and behaviors like difficulty speaking and wanting to be alone all the time. While there is some responsibility given to the fathers, its mainly the mothers that have a lot of the blame. This was an accepted diagnoses for thirty years. What was said toward the end of documentary is “Autism is neurological disorder and not psychological disorder”. That means that its an illness in the actual brain, not in the emotions of the autistic child. So no matter how a child is treated by their mother or father, if they’re autistic, they would still be autistic. In the documentary, all the women who participated were judged by the doctors as deficient parents who were the cause of their child’s autism. Parents today also feel this guilt, as if the autism was because of something they did or did not do for their child. Some people might feel like it would be easier to accept the diagnosis if you could blame yourself, but even then people will react differently. Some parents might become more involved in their childs life.

They’ll take the child out of school and home school him and do everything for the child. While other parents might reject the child or refuse to accept the diagnosis. While the concept of Refrigerator Mothers is old and no longer accepted as a real reason for autisim, the emotions around autism are still the same. Not knowing where it comes from, or how to prevent it, or treat it, and there’s no cure can make parents feel hopeless and blame themselves. These emotions in a family can have very bad negative effects. When it comes to family relationships, that is when things can go downhill and families have to work together and cooperate. In the documentary, some couples do get a divorce because of their autistic child. All children but especially autistic children need a stable family, and with the guilt and blame in those families, both mothers and fathers can back away. In other families, it is just the opposite. They have to work together to get through this. For example, Marie Boldt is a mother of two sons, one is autistic. The other son talks about Marie’s love and sacrifice to her family, and how that helped the autistic son through lots of tough times. Family should be there to love and support each other, and that will help a family survive and grow, even when there is illness and difficulties. My reaction to the documentary is really upsetting because I know that autism is serious thing for a child and a family to live with. I am hopeful to see what happens in the next generation, like maybe a cure would come someday, but in the meantime its important to understand the emotions and feelings a family with autism goes through. In my practice working with autistic kids, its important to remember that the diagnosis effects everyone in the family, the parents and siblings too. And the parents and siblings might feel guilt or blame themselves, which can be very stressful, but working as a family together will be the best chance for helping the autistic child succeed.

References Marie Boldt-15:43 “Autism is neurological disorder and not psychological disorder”-33:13...