To Study of Coping Strategies Used by the Parents of Mentally Retarded and Autistic Children

The term, "developmental disabilities," [i.e., severe chrome conditions that are due to mental and/or physical impairments with an age of onset prior to age 22] "Intellectual disabilities/Mental Retardation", "physical disabilities", and "autism" are terms that are used in India and are subsumed our use of the term developmental disabilities (Center for Disease Control&Prevention, 2004). Mental retardation is one of the most prevalent developmental disabilities. Mental retardation, mental deficiency, mental sub normality and mental handicap, developmental disability or delay are the terms used to refer to the same condition. The terms used m the past such as amentia, idiocy, feeble minded, moron, imbecile and oligophrenia are now obsolete. According to the World Health Organization(1994); Syle(1975); According to the World Health Organization(1994); approximately 156 million people or 3 percent of the world's population have mental retardation. Coping has been defined as problem solving efforts made by an individual when the demands of a given situation tax adaptive resources (Lazarus et al., 1974; Pearlm&Schooler, 1978). To Sturdy of coping strategies used by the parents of mentally retarded and autistic children. A sample of 70 parents i.e. 35 parents of mentally retarded children (18 fathers and 17 mothers ) and 35 parents of autistic children were taken from different institutions of Raipur(Samwedna, Asha, Deep, & Kopalwani) and Chandigarh (Pryaas) who were fulfilling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected for the present study. The tools used for assessing the variables are Socio Demographic Data Sheet (Self made), The Cope Scale (Carver et al., 1989). This study revealed that Significant differences were found in two coping strategies, i.e., planning and alcohol drug disengagement both being used more by Parents of autistic children and mentally retaded.