Structured-Visual Model for Dental Examination in Autism Spectrum Disorder Children: Cooperation and Compliance.

INTRODUCTION

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience challenges in social interaction, communication, and sensory processing, which might influence their cooperative behavior during dental visits. To address this issue, visual pedagogy is commonly employed as a behavioral technique to facilitate successful dental examinations and treatments.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a structured-visual behavioral approach in promoting compliance and cooperation during dental examinations in children with ASD in the Yogyakarta Special Region Province, Indonesia.

METHODS

A structured visual study was performed at the Muhammadiyah University Dental Hospital during the 2021-2022 period. The study included 5 intervention visits at 1-week intervals and consisted of the Success Approach, Tell-Show-Feel-Do, Visual Pedagogy, Audiovisual Modeling, In vivo Modelling, Behavioral Trial, and Auto modeling. A total of 37 ASD children who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The study employed a quasi-experimental design comprising 1 pre-test and 3 post-tests. The efficacy assessment encompassed 2 key dimensions: firstly, the ability to comply with the stages of the dental examination, and secondly, the degree of cooperation was evaluated using the Frankl Behavior Scale (FBS).

RESULTS

The findings showed that 64% of the cohort could achieve the highest score in achieving the highest score stage of dental examination in post-test 1. As for cooperation, 75% achieved a score of 4 (FBS) in post-test 1. Changes in the achievement of examination steps and cooperativeness after completing the intervention showed statistically significant changes with the Wilcoxon test (P < .01).

CONCLUSION

The structured-visual behavioral model approach was found to be effective in improving compliance and cooperation during dental examination in children with ASD in Yogyakarta Special Region Province, Indonesia.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

These findings highlight the important point that the use of a structured-visual model in daily practice can be beneficial for children with ASD.