Posted: September 27th, 2017

The community nurse visits the home of George, a child recently diagnosed with autism. The parents express feelings of shame and guilt about having somehow caused this problem. Which statement by the nurse would best help alleviate parental guilt?

The community nurse visits the home of George, a child recently diagnosed with autism. The parents express feelings of shame and guilt about having somehow caused this problem. Which statement by the nurse would best help alleviate parental guilt?

A. “Autism is a rare disorder. Your other children shouldn’t be affected.”
B. “The specific cause of autism is unknown. However, it is known to be associated with problems in the structure of and chemicals in the brain.”
C. “Sometimes a lack of prenatal care can be cause of autism.”
D. “Although autism is genetically inherited if you didn’t have testing you could not have known this would happen.”