Self-regulation and social interaction skills among children with autism across time
| Pages | 271-279 |
| Published date | 02 July 2014 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/AMHID-12-2012-0007 |
| Date | 02 July 2014 |
| Author | Lucy Barnard-Brak,Julie Ivey-Hatz,Angela Kris Ward,Tianlan Wei |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Learning & intellectual disabilities,Accounting education |
Self-regulation and social interaction skills
among children with autism across time
Lucy Barnard-Brak, Julie Ivey-Hatz, Angela Kris Ward and Tianlan Wei
Dr Lucy Barnard-Brak is an
Associate Professor, based at
Department of Educational
Psychology & Leadership,
Texas Tech University,
Lubbock, Texas, USA.
Julie Ivey-Hatz is based at
Department of Educational
Psychology, Baylor University,
Waco, Texas, USA.
Angela Kris Ward and Tianlan
Wei, both are based at
Department of Educational
Psychology, Texas Tech
University, Lubbock, Texas,
USA.
Abstract
Purpose – In the current study, the purpose of this paper is to examine the self-regulation and social
interaction skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as compared to children with intellectual
disabilities (IDs) across time.
Design/methodology/approach – Drawn from the Special Education Elementary Longitudinal Study
(SEELS), our sample consisted of 1,016 children diagnosed with ASD and 597 children diagnosed with ID.
The self-regulation and social interaction skills were measured using relevant subscales of the Scales of
Independent Behavior-Revised across three time points evenly spaced at two years apart.
Findings – Results revealed that children with ASD have significantly worse self-regulation (po0.01,
Z
2
¼0.12, Cohen’s f ¼0.36) and social interaction skills (po0.01, Z
2
¼0.05, Cohen’s f ¼0.21) as compared
to children with ID across time. The results of the current study support the results of Bieberich and Morgan
(2004) that children with ASD have significantly worse self-regulation and social interaction skills as
compared to children with ID across time.
Originality/value – The paper suggests that our results may be considered as more generalizable given
the utilization of data from the SEELS as a large, nationally representative, and community-based sample
of children with disabilities across the USA examined longitudinally.
Keywords Autism, Self-regulation
Paper type Research paper
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neuro-developmental disorder determined based upon
behavioral and developmental criteria affecting two major areas of functioning: social
communication and social interaction; restricted, repetitive patterns of b ehaviors, interests, or
activities. Restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, or activities have been considered
the result of a direct deficit in self-regulation skills as the meta-cognitive skill set required for
individuals to appraise their behaviors (e.g. Gomez and Baird, 2005; Greenspan, 1981, 1996).
Both of these sets of symptoms are present from early childhood and limit or impair everyday
functioning for individuals with ASD (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). While ASD
can affect many areas of developmental functioning, children are rarely diagnosed with ASD before
the age of three, though mostparents report a suspicion of somethingatypical with theirchild long
before the diagnosis is made (Gomez and Baird, 2005). Given that ASD affects the communication
and social skills of individuals, children with ASD have been indicated as having great impairments
in social reciprocity and self-regulation often engaging in conversations primarily one-sided and
fail to modify their behavior based upon the behavior of others (Bellini, 2006). From evidence of
these impairments associated with ASD, research has been conducted to determine if children
with ASD would benefit from specific training in the areas of self-regulation and social interaction
(e.g. Bock, 2007; Gena, 2006; Scattone et al., 2006; Tsao and Odom, 2006). Children with
intellectual disabilities (IDs) also typically display delays in self-regulation and social skills as well,
which makes these children an appropriate comparative group (Bieberich and Morgan, 2004).
Self-regulation has been defined as the ability to respond appropriately to sensory stimulation
and regulate emotions and arousal (Gomez and Baird, 2005). Development of self-regulation
DOI 10.1108/AMHID-12-2012-0007 VOL. 8 NO. 4 2014, pp. 271-279, CEmeraldGroup Publishing Limited, ISSN 2044-1282
j
ADVANCES IN MENTAL HEALTH AND INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
j
PAGE 271
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