Parent perspectives on home participation of high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder compared with a matched group of children without autism spectrum disorder.
High-functioning kids with autism face more environmental barriers to home participation—BCBAs should prioritize home environment modifications during parent coaching.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Fujiura et al. (2018) asked 45 parents of high-functioning kids with autism and 45 parents of matched neurotypical kids about home life.
They used a 25-item checklist to rate how often the child joins in chores, play, and family outings.
Parents also listed barriers like noise, clutter, or sibling conflict and noted any tricks they use to help their child take part.
What they found
Autism parents scored home participation 15 percent lower and listed twice as many barriers.
Both groups used the same fixes—visual schedules, warnings, and choices—but autism parents felt these fixes helped less.
The top barriers were sound sensitivity, rigid routines, and trouble switching tasks.
How this fits with other research
Leung et al. (2011) extends this picture: kids with stronger daily-living skills had families who reported fewer unmet service needs.
Together the papers hint that teaching dressing, cooking, and cleanup skills may knock down the very barriers T et al. found.
Van Herwegen et al. (2018) used the same matched-group survey trick and saw autism parents also give schools the lowest marks.
The two 2018 studies do not clash—they simply map parent pain points in two settings: home and school.
Why it matters
If you coach parents, skip the generic advice. Tour the house, dim harsh lights, move the Xbox away from the dinner table, and rehearse one daily chore until it is easy. Small space tweaks plus independence training can raise home satisfaction fast.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Few studies have focused on home participation of high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder. We employed a mixed-methods design to explore and compare parent perspectives on (1) participation of children with and without autism spectrum disorder in activities at home, (2) the environmental features and resources that affect these children's home participation and (3) the strategies parents use to help their children participate at home. The Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth (PEM-CY) was used to gather online survey and qualitative data from parents of 99 high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorder and 241 children without autism spectrum disorder. Independent sample t-tests and χ2 tests were used to explore differences between groups, and Cohen's d was calculated to examine effect sizes. Differences were obtained on all Participation and Environment Measure for Children and Youth dimensions but particularly when comparing parents' satisfaction and perceived environmental barriers to their children's participation. The qualitative analyses revealed that parents in both groups used similar strategies to facilitate their children's participation at home, although parents of children with autism spectrum disorder made use of more distinct modifications. Our results highlight the importance of environmental aspects and point to how practitioners can support families in their efforts to promote their child's participation at home.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2018 · doi:10.1177/1362361316685555