Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on families living with autism: An online survey.
Half of autism families saw child symptoms and parent stress double when COVID-19 halted therapy.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Isensee et al. (2022) sent an online survey to families who have a child with autism.
They asked parents to compare child symptoms, stress levels, and services before and during COVID-19 lock-down.
The team looked at how many families saw things get worse.
What they found
About half of parents said their child’s autism symptoms doubled.
Parent stress also doubled for roughly half the group.
Many families lost therapy and some kids needed more medicine.
How this fits with other research
Marcone et al. (2023) and Alhuzimi (2021) ran similar surveys in Italy and Saudi Arabia.
All three studies show the same pattern: lock-down cut services and parent stress shot up.
Bolbocean et al. (2022) looked different at first glance.
They found family quality of life stayed stable, but their families had children with syndromic autism plus intellectual disability and strong support nets.
Green et al. (2020) also seems to clash: autistic teens in the U.S. actually reported less anxiety and depression in early 2020.
The gap makes sense once you see parents and kids can rate the same period differently.
Why it matters
You may still meet families shaken by pandemic-era service gaps.
Screen for lingering parent stress and lost therapy hours at intake.
Add flexible make-up hours or parent coaching blocks to your treatment plan.
These simple steps can help families rebuild routines and lower stress fast.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The current SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic presents a great challenge for governments, health care professionals and the general population. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) might be especially vulnerable to restrictions imposed by the crisis. AIM: The objective of the study was to examine the impact of the SARSCoV- 2 pandemic on children with ASD and their families. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: We conducted an online survey two months after the beginning of lock-down (18th of May to 5th of July 2020) in Germany and Austria. We investigated behavioral and emotional changes of children related to the lock-down alongside parental stress and intrafamilial burden OUTCOME AND RESULTS: Of the 216 participating families with an autistic child (mean age: 12.23 years), nearly 50% reported aggravation of autistic symptoms and heightened parental stress. Families reported discontinuation of therapy, more intrafamilial conflicts and increase of psychopharmacological medication of the child. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our report on short-term detrimental effects of the pandemic calls for thorough investigation of long-term sequalae for children and families.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102077