Impact of Emotional Regulation and Social Skills on Participation in Leisure for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

PURPOSE: As children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) demonstrate significant difficulty with emotional regulation, social skills, and participation in leisure activity, these impact lifelong mental health and well-being (Billstedt, Gillberg, & Gillberg, 2011). Neural connections between the emotion system and social processes impact the ability to participate in leisure (Grossberg & Seidman, 2006).The purpose of this research study was to 1) determine the proportion of emotional regulation, social skills, and participation in leisure difficulties among children and adolescents with ASD in a nationally representative sample and 2) to examine the relationship between emotional regulation and social skills on difficulty participating in recreation and leisure for children and adolescents with ASD.

DESIGN: This cross-sectional quantitative research utilized the 2011 Survey of Pathways to Diagnosis and Services (CAHMI, 2015) to examine the relationship between emotion regulation, social skills, and difficulties participating in recreation and leisure.

METHOD: The study participants were 1,420 children and adolescents with ASD between the ages of 6-17. The variables, emotional regulation and social skills, were taken from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Goodman, 2009). The participation measure was an individual parent survey item about whether their child experienced difficulty in the area of leisure activities (CAHMI, 2015). Ordinal r egression was utilized to determine if emotional regulation and social skills were related to difficulty participating in recreation and leisure and to determine the strengths of the two predictors emotional regulation and social skills on difficulty participating in leisure.

RESULTS: Results indicated that 89% of the sample demonstrated difficulty participating in leisure activity, 57% had difficulty with emotional regulation, and 89% had social skill problems. Social skills, emotional regulation, and age (ps < .05) were significantly associated with difficulty participating in leisure activities.

CONCLUSION: Finding that a large portion of children with ASD in a nationally representative sample demonstrate difficulty participating in leisure activity confirms previous research. Finding that emotional regulation and social skills contribute to difficulty participating in leisure activity suggests them as important occupational therapy intervention targets for children with ASD.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Occupational therapy interventions addressing successful participation in leisure activities should target emotional regulation strategies and social skills to promote neural plasticity changes that will improve the quality of life for children and adolescents with ASD.

References

Billstedt, E., Gillberg, I. C., & Gillberg, C. (2011). Aspects of quality of life in adults diagnosed with autism in childhood. Autism, 15(1), 7-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1362361309346066

Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI), Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. (2015). 2011 Survey of Pathways to Diagnosis and Services [(SPSS) Indicator Data Set]. Maternal and Child Health Bureau in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics. Retrieved from 12/27/17 from www.childhealthdata.org

Goodman, R. (2009). Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [Measurement instrument]. Published instrument. Retrieved from http://sdqinfo.org/Adult/SDQS17+_UK.pdf

Grossberg, S., & Seidman, D. (2006). Neural dynamics of autistic behaviors: Cognitive, emotional, and timing substrates. Psychological Review, 113(3), 483-525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.113.3.483