The Experience of Military Families with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders During Relocation and Separation.
PCS moves and deployments create predictable autism-service gaps—plan for them like you plan for problem behavior.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors talked with military parents who have a child with autism.
They asked how moving duty stations and deployments shaped daily life.
Parents shared stories through open-ended interviews.
What they found
Families feel a double load of stress.
Military demands pile on top of autism-care demands.
Each move means new doctors, new schools, and long waits for therapy.
Deployments leave one parent handling everything alone.
How this fits with other research
Eussen et al. (2016) surveyed 189 spouses and found the same problems, showing the stress is common, not rare.
Farley et al. (2022) narrowed the lens to ABA and pinned down the gap: after a move, families wait three extra months because of waitlists and fresh referrals.
Kremkow et al. (2022) gave a fix: online peer mentors. Their pilot showed moms can support each other through the same moves that Perez et al. (2015) flagged as breaking points.
Alhuzimi (2021) saw a similar stress spike when COVID closed services. Different trigger—pandemic versus PCS—but the pattern matches: lose support, parent stress jumps.
Why it matters
If you serve military families, treat every PCS as a high-risk moment. Build a handoff packet with current goals, behavior plans, and provider contacts. Schedule the next ABA intake before the boxes are unpacked. One smooth transfer can save months of lost skills and lower family stress.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Military families with a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are underrepresented in the literature. In order to provide appropriate services, research must be done to determine the needs of these families. A qualitative methodology was used to interview military spouses with children with ASD about their experiences with therapeutic services. Overall, results indicate military families with a child with ASD experience challenges associated with both the military lifestyle and having a child with special needs. Due to their membership in two groups prone to support limitations and therapeutic service accessibility issues, military families with a child with ASD may be at additional risk for high levels of stress and difficulty obtaining and maintaining ASD related services.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2015 · doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2364-2