Teaching Sexuality Education to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from Muslim Mothers’ Perspectives
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Abstract
Sexuality education is an extremely crucial and sensitive issue, especially in Eastern countries such as Malaysia. Muslim parents are struggling with issues surrounding the sexuality of their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This article presents a study conducted to explore Muslim mothers’ perspectives on teaching sexuality education to their children with mild ASD. The study used semi-structured interviews with five mothers selected via a purposive sampling technique following three main criteria. The findings analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) have identified several strategies which mothers used, namely: (1) social stories; (2) repetition and reminders; (3) visual aids and demonstrations; (4) seeking help from other people and experts; and (5) spiritual approach or Islamic teachings. Overall, the experiences were meaningful as reported by the Muslim mothers involved in this
study. Therefore, this article aims to disseminate an awareness on the role of mothers of children with ASD in teaching informal sexuality education at home, and that the mothers’ experiences in this matter are vital to shedding light on the issue of misunderstandings related to the sexuality of individuals with ASD.
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