Taheri A, Perry A, Minnes P
Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, ON,, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON,, Canada.
J Intellect Disabil Res. 2016 May;60(5):435-43. doi: 10.1111/jir.12289.
Participation in social and physical activities has a number of benefits for children with or without disabilities. However, individuals with disabilities are often excluded from taking part in social activities. Most of the research on activity participation has focused on adults or youth with milder disabilities. However, children and adolescents with severe and complex needs, including those with autism, are often excluded from this type of research because of their complexities and level of functioning. Thus, we examined the social participation and friendships of children and adolescents with severe developmental disabilities, with and without autism, compared with peers without developmental disabilities.
We compared the activity participation and friendships of typically developing children (n = 210), children with an intellectual disability (ID only; n = 186), and children with autism spectrum disorder plus intellectual disability (ID + ASD; n = 232) between the ages of 3 and 19 years. Parents of these children completed a survey, which included questions about their children's participation in six activities, and the number and quality of their children's friendships.
Children and adolescents with ID only and ID + ASD were reported to participate in significantly fewer activities and to participate much less frequently than typically developing peers. Those with ID only and ID + ASD were reported to have fewer friends and poorer quality of friendships. In addition, those with ID + ASD participated even less frequently in some activities and had fewer friends relative to those with ID only.
It is important to find ways to increase the social and activity participation of children and adolescents with ID only and ID + ASD. Future research should examine the barriers to such participation and factors that impact social participation in this population.
参与社交和体育活动对残疾或非残疾儿童都有诸多益处。然而，残疾个体往往被排除在社交活动之外。大多数关于活动参与的研究都集中在残疾程度较轻的成年人或青少年身上。然而，有严重和复杂需求的儿童及青少年，包括自闭症患者，由于其情况复杂和功能水平问题，常常被排除在这类研究之外。因此，我们研究了患有严重发育障碍的儿童及青少年（有或无自闭症）与无发育障碍的同龄人相比的社会参与和友谊情况。
我们比较了3至19岁的发育正常儿童（n = 210）、智力残疾儿童（仅智力残疾；n = 186）和自闭症谱系障碍合并智力残疾儿童（智力残疾 + 自闭症谱系障碍；n = 232）的活动参与和友谊情况。这些儿童的家长完成了一项调查，其中包括关于他们孩子参与六项活动的问题，以及孩子朋友的数量和友谊质量。
据报告，仅患有智力残疾和智力残疾 + 自闭症谱系障碍的儿童及青少年参与的活动明显更少，且参与频率远低于发育正常的同龄人。据报告，仅患有智力残疾和智力残疾 + 自闭症谱系障碍的儿童朋友更少，友谊质量也更差。此外，与仅患有智力残疾的儿童相比，智力残疾 + 自闭症谱系障碍的儿童在某些活动中的参与频率更低，朋友也更少。
找到增加仅患有智力残疾和智力残疾 + 自闭症谱系障碍的儿童及青少年社会和活动参与度的方法很重要。未来的研究应探讨此类参与的障碍以及影响该人群社会参与的因素。
