Child Development Unit, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Westmead, New South Wales, Australia.
Sydney Children's Hospital Network, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Autism Res. 2021 Jul;14(7):1444-1455. doi: 10.1002/aur.2501. Epub 2021 Mar 22.
Difficulties in adaptive functioning are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and contribute to negative outcomes across the lifespan. Research indicates that cognitive ability is related to degree of adaptive functioning impairments, particularly in young children with ASD. However, the extent to which other factors, such as socioeconomic status (SES) and ASD symptom severity, predict impairments in adaptive functioning remains unclear. The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which SES, ASD symptom severity, and cognitive ability contribute to variability in domain-specific and global components of adaptive functioning in preschool-aged children with ASD. Participants were 99 preschool-aged children (2-6 years) with ASD who attended a tertiary diagnostic service. Results demonstrate that cognitive ability accounted for a significant proportion of variance in domain-specific and global components of adaptive functioning, with higher cognitive ability predicting better adaptive functioning. Results also demonstrate that SES accounted for some variability in domain-specific communication skills and global adaptive functioning when compared to basic demographic factors alone (age and gender). By contrast, ASD symptom severity did not predict variability in domain-specific or global components of adaptive functioning. These findings provide support for a relationship between cognitive ability and adaptive functioning in preschool-aged children with ASD and help to explain specific contributions of verbal and nonverbal ability to adaptive functioning; from this, we can better understand which children are likely to show the greatest degree of impairments across components of adaptive functioning early in development. LAY SUMMARY: People with autism often have difficulties with everyday communication, daily living, and social skills, which are also called adaptive functioning skills. This study investigated factors that might be related to these difficulties in preschoolers with autism. We found that better cognitive ability, but not autism symptoms, were associated with better adaptive functioning. This suggests that interventions for young children with autism should take into account cognitive ability to better understand which children are likely to have difficulties with adaptive functioning.
适应功能障碍在自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）中很常见，会对终生产生负面影响。研究表明，认知能力与适应功能障碍的程度有关，尤其是在 ASD 的幼儿中。然而，其他因素（如社会经济地位（SES）和 ASD 症状严重程度）对适应功能障碍的预测程度尚不清楚。本研究的目的是确定 SES、ASD 症状严重程度和认知能力在多大程度上导致 ASD 学龄前儿童的特定领域和整体适应功能障碍的变异性。参与者是 99 名在三级诊断服务机构就诊的 ASD 学龄前儿童（2-6 岁）。结果表明，认知能力对特定领域和整体适应功能障碍的变异性有显著影响，较高的认知能力预测了更好的适应功能。结果还表明，与仅基本人口统计学因素（年龄和性别）相比，SES 对特定领域的沟通技能和整体适应功能的变异性有一定的影响。相比之下，ASD 症状严重程度并不能预测特定领域或整体适应功能障碍的变异性。这些发现为 ASD 学龄前儿童认知能力与适应功能之间的关系提供了支持，并有助于解释言语和非言语能力对适应功能的具体贡献；由此，我们可以更好地了解哪些儿童在发育早期的适应功能障碍的各个组成部分中表现出最大程度的障碍。
