Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a highly heterogeneous specific feature of neurodevelopment, whose general characteristics are defined by two basic dimensions: 1) deficits of communication and social interaction and 2) restrictive and stereotyped behaviours. Both dimensions are complemented by empirical evidence of the highly significant relationships of a predictive kind with the psychomotor functioning, which becomes most evident over development. Just, this research tries to answer to the following general goals: 1) examine the application of specific programs relating to development of basic psychomotor skills in students with several levels of ASD, age and sex, and 2) delimit the incidence of cognitive relationships between the concepts and learning categories. A total of 99 students have participated in this study, distributed according to ASD level, age and sex. Data have been analysed through the Univariate ANOVA Between-Subjects Effects Test. Results show that both the intersection of psychomotor and cognitive variables (critical sig: .00), as well variables separately (psychomotricity: .00, and relationship: .00), significantly affect to academic performance of students with ASD. Therefore, it can be concluded that relational cognitive components and psychomotor development are essential to facilitate the development of learning in people with ASD, whose R2 of explicative variance is significantly high: .913, being the adjusted R2 level: 86.3%. The influence of the fixed variables interactions: ASD level, age and sex have also been studied.
KEYWORDS:Autism Spectrum Disorder. Psychomotricity. Perceptive- Cognitive- Nodal Relationship. Conceptual and Categories. Academic Performance.
Summary:
The knowledge, diagnosis and treatment of clinical anxiety in people considered within the autism spectrum is a challenge since most of the instruments are designed based on research variables for people outside the autism spectrum. A total of 91 parents of children between 6 and 18 years of age, diagnosed with ASD in Metropolitan Lima participated in this study. In this sense, the general objective of this study is the validation of the anxiety scale: ANXIETY SCALE FOR CHILDREN WITH ASD (ASC ASD-P) in relation to anxious behaviors in people with ASD. The results show a significant validity of the Scale content; however, there are discrepancies in the allocation of reagents to the corresponding dimensions. The Exploratory Factor Analysis and the Alpha Values of Anxiety present the following data: 1) Anxiety due to Uncertainty (McDonald’s: .86 and Cronbach's Alpha: .85); 2) Performance Anxiety (McDonald’s: .81 and Cronbach's Alpha: .81); 3) Anxious Arousal (0.86 McDonald’s: .86 and Cronbach's Alpha: .8). Separation anxiety is excluded from the analysis due to its low factor value. These data allow us to affirm that the scale to evaluate the presence of ASC-ASD clinical anxiety, parent version, has adequate psychometric properties for the predictive measurement of anxiety in people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Clinical Anxiety, Anxiety Scale Validation.
From the behavioural perspective, the specific diagnosis of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), was categorized by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th of the DSM-V-TR of American Psychiatric Association (2013) and also the International Classification of Diseases, 11th. from World Health Organization (2018). Both classifications have indicated it specific behavioural construct associated with its diagnosis, defined by a whole of socio- behavioural deficits; however, it is need to have added that cognitive-perceptive symptomatic groups are the direct cause and consequence of the behavioural particularity in people with ASD. For this reason, in this study has raised like general aim to analyse the effectiveness of the application of an integrated cognitive-behavioural systemic program to improve behaviours in people with ASD. The research study has been designed a quasi-experimental analysis of three groups with two pre-test and posttest measures. The groups are made up by: 1) an experimental group of 4 students with ASD (n= 4), which the integrated global systemic program was applied, 2) a control group-1, composed of 4 students with ASD, who have followed an A-B behavioural program (Stimulus-Response), and 3) a third control group-2, also made up of 4 students with ASD, who have followed several usual behaviours of modification programs (N= 12). Results found from means of non-parametric Kruskal Wallis Test (K-W), have showed the effectiveness of global integrated program implemented to experimental group, which has founded highly significant critical differential indices, regarding other two control 1-2 groups. Likewise, the bivariate correlations between behavioural dimension and cognitive-perceptive factors of processing are calculated and shown.
KEYWORDS: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Global Systemic Intervention, Cognitive- Behavioural Attention.
Localización del Instituto de Investagaciones Científicas en Autismo, localizado en la Universidad de Vigo.
