Table 1.

Four meaning-making processes relevant to parents engaging in autism-related intervention and care and manifestations pre-diagnosis.

Process	Description (Gentles, Nicholas, Jack, McKibbon, & Szatmari, 2019)	Relevant pre-diagnosis manifestations
Defining concerns	Perceiving issues related to autism as problematic, and ultimately concerning enough to motivate them to want to take action to address; concerns are thus the impetus for action related to engaging in care; they can be general, like the child’s long-term happiness, or specific, like functional speech	• Coming to understand the child has autism
Informing the self	Obtaining and internalizing information through reflective experience, observation, or seeking or passively receiving information from a variety of sources (professionals, social acquaintances, the child with autism, books, Internet, etc.) to develop knowledge and understanding about a concern or about options for addressing it.	• Re how to identify autism • Re what to expect with autism • Re what to do first about autism
Adapting emotionally	Responding internally by successfully adapting to the emotionally difficult implications parents may define their situation as having for themselves or their child; success generally prepares and motivates parents for engaging in care.	• Accepting the possibility of autism • Releasing culturally based hopes and expectations for the child’s future • Accepting an uncertain and frightening future for the child • (See Gentles et al., 2019 for aspects relevant at later stages)
Seeing what is involved	Experiencing the work involved in, and learning about the care systems they must interact with after, taking action themselves to navigate care.	• Less relevant, pre-diagnosis (prior to experience navigating care)