Determining the experiences of the mothers on having children with autism

This study was conducted to explore the experiences of the mothers on having a child with autism since the day giving their birth, the effects of the autism on their daily life, the problems which were faced, their relationships in family and society, the support which were taken from others, the future expectancies, and their concerns. The study designed according to qualitative research approaches in which a semi structured interview questions were developed and the results were analyzed via content analysis method. Ten mothers who have children with autism were participated to the study. The findings of the study showed that 11 themes were elaborated which were awareness age of the child, first sights of the autism, first affective reactions of the mothers, information sources of the mothers, mothers? opinions about the reasons of the autism, the effects of the autism on family relationships, the effects of the autism on daily life of the mothers, explanation the autism to the others, expectations of social support, the concerns about the future of the child, expectations about the future of the child.According to the results of the study, it was observed that after learning autism, the mothers had intensive feelings, their family and social relationships had changed, they had concerns about the future of the children. It was suggested that families should be given professional counseling and suppose to be more extended over society.