Desempenho funcional de crianças e adolescentes com Transtorno do Espectro Autista

Abstract

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by changes in brain function that lead to changes in social interaction, communication difficulties, and repetitive behaviors. One of the areas affected by ASD is the performance of activities of daily living (ADLs), which are everyday tasks essential for autonomy and independence, such as getting dressed, eating, bathing, among others. These difficulties can be attributed to behavioral changes characteristic of ASD, which can interfere with the development of the skills necessary to perform these tasks. Objectives: To evaluate the functional performance of children and adolescents with ASD, with and without associated Intellectual Disability (ID), in the domains: daily activities, mobility, social/cognitive, and responsibility. Methods: Observational, cross-sectional, and descriptive study involving parents/guardians of children and adolescents with ASD, aged 3 to 15 years, of both sexes. The Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory-Computer Adaptive Test (PEDI-CAT) was used to assess functional performance and was administered to parents or guardians. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used to assess data normality. The Spearman test was used to verify the correlation between variables. Significance was established at α=0.05. Results: In this study, 42 children and adolescents with ASD were evaluated, and 12 (66.7%) had comorbidity associated with ID. For the activities of daily living domain, 21.4% scored below expectations; in the mobility area, 14.3% performed below expectations; in the social/cognitive domain, 35.7% were below expectations and 2.4% of the sample performed above expectations; and in the responsibility domain, 16.7% scored below expectations. The Spearman correlation test analysis revealed a weak and negative correlation between the level of support and performance in the social/cognitive (r=-0.383; p=0.015) and responsibility (r=-0.334; p=0.033) domains. Regarding independence in ADLs, from the parents' perception, there was a weak and negative correlation between independence in ADLs and the domains of daily activities (r=-0.308; p=0.047), social/cognitive (r=-0.333; p=0.034) and responsibility (r=-0.312; p=0.044). Children with ASD and ID (n=12) presented greater difficulties in the social/Cognitive domain, with 66.7% of the individuals scoring below the expected, with a negative and significant correlation (r=-0.615; p=0.033) of this domain with the level of support. Conclusion: Children and adolescents with ASD evaluated in this study presented greater difficulties in the areas of social and cognitive function and demonstrated that the lower the level of support presented, the greater the functional performance. Children with ASD and ID appear to present more significant challenges in the social/cognitive area. Therefore, it is important to emphasize that research on the functional performance and level of support of ASD should be carried out in order to improve intervention and clinical practice.