Panerai Simonetta, Ferri Raffaele, Catania Valentina, Zingale Marinella, Ruccella Daniela, Gelardi Donatella, Fasciana Daniela, Elia Maurizio
Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, 94018 Troina, Italy.
Psychoeducational Service for Children with Autism and Intellectual Disability, Società Cooperativa Sociale "I Corrieri dell'Oasi" (CdO), 94100 Enna, Italy.
Brain Sci. 2020 May 31;10(6):336. doi: 10.3390/brainsci10060336.
The aim of this study is to better understand the relationship between sensory and feeding problems in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by comparing sensory responsiveness of ASD children with (ASD-W) and without (ASD-WO) feeding problems. The feeding and sensory characteristics of 111 children with ASD (37 ASD-W and 74 ASD-WO) were assessed by using two questionnaires tapping on feeding problems and two on sensory problems. A comparative study was carried out with between-group as well as intra-group comparisons design; a correlation analysis was also added. A statistically significant correlation was found between sensory and feeding problems. ASD-W children showed more severe and extensively impaired sensory responses than ASD-WO, with lower sensory adaptation and more generalized and severe deficits in all subdomains. Taste/Smell sensitivity was strongly impaired only in ASD-W, whereas in ASD-WO it was found to be a point of strength. Both groups showed a Hyporesponsive profile, though it was more marked in ASD-W. Both groups showed strengths in Visual/Auditory sensitivity, Low-Energy/Weak, and Movement sensitivity, again more marked in ASD-WO. These results might prove to be particularly useful for sensory training and psychoeducational treatment.
本研究的目的是通过比较有喂养问题（ASD-W）和无喂养问题（ASD-WO）的自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的感觉反应，更好地理解ASD中感觉问题与喂养问题之间的关系。使用两份针对喂养问题的问卷和两份针对感觉问题的问卷，对111名ASD儿童（37名ASD-W和74名ASD-WO）的喂养和感觉特征进行了评估。采用组间和组内比较设计进行了一项对比研究；还增加了相关性分析。发现感觉问题与喂养问题之间存在统计学上的显著相关性。ASD-W儿童比ASD-WO儿童表现出更严重、更广泛的感觉反应受损，感觉适应性更低，在所有子领域都存在更普遍、更严重的缺陷。味觉/嗅觉敏感性仅在ASD-W中严重受损，而在ASD-WO中则是优势点。两组均表现出反应低下的特征，尽管在ASD-W中更为明显。两组在视觉/听觉敏感性、低能量/虚弱和运动敏感性方面均表现出优势，在ASD-WO中更为明显。这些结果可能对感觉训练和心理教育治疗特别有用。
