Development of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder and related influencing factors

Abstract:

Objective To investigate the development of social skills in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related influencing factors. Methods A total of 889 children with ASD in 10 cities of China were enrolled as subjects. The Autism Social Skills Scale was used to assess their social skills. Results The children with ASD had a lower score of each factor than the theoretical median, with the lowest score for social communication and the highest score for self-regulation. There were significant differences in the total score of social skills and the scores of social cognition and social participation between the children with ASD in different age groups (P < 0.05). There were also significant differences in the total score of social skills and the scores of social orientation, social communication, social participation, and self-regulation between the ASD children with different language levels (P < 0.01). Conclusions Children with ASD have low social skills, and their social skills are associated with age and language level.