Relationship Between the Performance of Self-Care and Visual Perception Among Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Developing Children.
Young children with autism who have weak visual perception also struggle with self-care—check both areas during intake.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chi et al. (2021) compared young children with autism to same-age typical peers. They gave both groups two short tests: one for self-care skills like buttoning, the other for visual perception like finding hidden shapes.
The study used a quasi-experimental design. Kids were not randomly picked, but matched by age.
What they found
Children with autism scored lower on both tests. Lower visual-perception scores lined up with lower self-care scores inside the autism group.
Typical kids showed no link between the two areas. For them, good vision did not mean better self-care.
How this fits with other research
Miller et al. (2014) saw the same vision gap in a lab task, so the deficit is real across settings.
Mount et al. (2011) seems to disagree: they found no vision gap in older kids aged 8-14. The key difference is age. Vision problems may fade as autistic kids grow.
Huang et al. (2026) tracked the same kids for years and show self-care gaps stay flat after age four. Put together, the three papers say: check both vision and self-care early, while the child is still young enough to benefit from help.
Why it matters
If a preschooler with autism struggles to put on shoes, screen visual perception too. A quick puzzle test can tell you if vision is part of the problem. Target both skills together: break self-care into tiny steps and use high-contrast materials. Early catch may prevent later adaptive living gaps shown by Huang et al. (2026).
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Studies investigating the performance of self-care and visual perception in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are limited. The relationship between self-care performance and visual perception ability in young children with ASD is not yet clearly understood. Here, self-care performance was evaluated by the caregivers and therapists of children with ASD. The differences in self-care performance and visual perception ability were investigated in 66 children with ASD and 66 typically developing (TD) children between the ages of 48-83 months. The relationships between self-care and visual perception were tested in both two groups. The Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (AMPS) and the Chinese version of the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI-C) were used to assess the children's self-care performance. The Test of Visual Perceptual Skills-Third Edition (TVPS-3) and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception-Third Edition (DTVP-3) were used to evaluate visual perception ability. Young children with ASD obtained significantly lower scores for self-care performance (AMPS and PEDI-C) and visual perception ability (TVPS-3 and DTVP) compared with TD children. Additionally, positive correlations were found between self-care performance and visual perception ability in young children with ASD. The results provide a valuable contribution to our understanding about self-care and visual perception performance of young children with ASD. The findings of this research highlight the need for pediatric practitioners to include self-care and visual-motor integration evaluations for young children with ASD. LAY SUMMARY: Young children with ASD obtained significantly lower scores for self-care performance and visual perception ability compared with TD children. Positive correlations were found between self-care performance and visual perception ability in young children with ASD. The results provide a valuable contribution to our understanding about self-care and visual perception performance of young children with ASD.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2021 · doi:10.1002/aur.2367