Language, Socio-Emotional Skills, and School Performance of School-Aged Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate and compare the perceptions of parents who have primary school-age children with ASD and ID in relation to their developmental skills (language, social, emotional, and academic skills) as well as their interests. A total of 89 parents participated in the study, of whom 61 had a child with ASD and 28 had a child with ID. A questionnaire was completed by the parents. The results showed that the parents of both groups of children reported good skills in vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary use, and phonological awareness, but lower skills in conversation endurance, articulation, changing tone of voice, and understanding metaphors, syntax, and grammar. Also, both groups of parents rated their children's emotional skills from “almost good” to “good.” Also, parents of children with ASD rated their children's academic skills “good” in general, while parents of children with ID rated their children in lower levels. Further analyses were conducted in order to investigate differences between the various skills examined within the same group of children.