Sleep quality, functional skills, and communication in preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorder

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2021.104024Get rights and content

Highlights

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    The understanding of sleep quality and aspects of functional skills remain unexplored in children with ASD.

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    Sleep problems impact the performance of functional skills (mobility, self-care, and social function).

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    Sleep problems impact the performance of communication in children with ASD.

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    Disorders/Alterations in sleep quality impact the development and severity of ASD.

Abstract

Aim

This study aimed to correlate sleep quality, the performance of functional skills (mobility, self-care, and social function), communication, independence, and severity of ASD in children with ASD.

Method

58 children between 3 and 5 years and 11 months old were investigated. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale was applied to determine the severity of autism; the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children was used to investigate sleep quality, and the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory to investigate functional abilities and independence of the children.

Results

68.9 % of the children showed indicative of sleep disorders. There was no correlation between the different sleep disorders and communication. Sleep disorders showed a negative correlation with functional performance and a positive correlation with ASD severity.

Interpretation

The current study offers an exploration between sleep and functional skills in children with ASD. These findings provide important clinical implications in the diagnosis and intervention process of children with ASD and also stimulate reflections on the importance in minimize the impact of sleep disorders and functional abilities on the quality of life of these individuals and their families.

Section snippets

What this paper adds

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    68.9 % of the children with ASD between 3 and 5 years and 11 months old showed indicative of sleep disorders.

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    There is a positive correlation between sleep disorders and ASD severity.

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    Sleep disorders are not correlated with communication in children with ASD between 3 and 5 years and 11 months old.

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    There is a negative correlation between sleep disorders and functional performance in children with ASD.

Material and methods

This cross-sectional study followed the National Council of Ethics in Research (CONEP) recommendations and was approved by the local ethics committee (Process 1021/2014) with written informed consent from all participants' parents.

Results

Following CARS, 58.6 % of the children were classified as mild or moderately autistic, and 41.4 % as having severe ASD (Fig. 1D).

The analysis of the children’s functional performance showed a correlation between the child's level of independence and the assistance provided by the caregiver so that the child could perform self-care tasks (self-care I vs. Self-care II, p < 0.001, r = 0.768; mobility I vs. mobility II, p = 0.001, r = 0.422; social function I vs. social function II, p < 0.001, r =

Discussion

In the present study, we explored the relationship between sleep, functional abilities, and communication in children with ASD between 3 and 5 years and 11 months old.

As already demonstrated in previous studies a high frequency of children did not present a good sleep quality. In our study, 68.9 % of the children aged 3 years to 5 years and 11 months old with ASD analyzed showed indications of SD, reinforcing previous data of 50%–80% of SD in children with ASD (Fadini et al., 2015; Van der

Author contributions

Each author contributed to the development of the final Manuscript. DACL: Concept/design, data analysis/interpretation, writing the manuscript. CMG: Data interpretation, writing the manuscript; MDHH: Data analysis; MJDS: Acquisition of data, data analysis; NCS: Data analysis; LP: Concept/design, data interpretation, writing the manuscript.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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