autism spectrum disorders, family breakdown, problem behavior, social interactions, communication

This paper presents results of a research that aims to analyze and describe the impact of family breakdown on children with autism spectrum disorder with focus on social interaction and communication with parents or teachers. Another key objective was to reveal possible changes in school achievement and changes in the behavior of the sample group of monitored children. The main research method was questioning (a survey) and questionnaire of our own design was applied to collect data. The sample contained 39 respondents (N = 39) that participated in the survey. The respondents were parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and the basic criterion was defined by personal experience from the period of family breakdown. The obtained data were subjected to in-depth analysis which reveals the specifics of the influence of parental divorce on the behavior, communication, social behavior and education of a child with autism. The paper presents interesting results of the analysis, which clarifies the effect of family breakdown on children with autism spectrum disorder.