Outcomes for Adolescents and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders: General Social Functioning

Abstract

Background: Earlier reports from different parts of the world reported fair to poor outcome of ASD in adolescence and young adult life. Method: Eighty children diagnosed as ASD from a public clinic and a day care centre for adolescent made the study sample. 59, (73%) of sample’s mothers were contacted by telephone 10-15 year after diagnoses to assess their children general social functioning and behaviour. Children were not seen or examined. Results: Sample mean age was 17.3 year–St Dev. 4.8 year, and mean age at diagnosis was 3.2 year. Male, female ratio was 4:1. Almost all attended day care programs for ASD and 10% are in regular school. A quarter of cases had friends and all were living with their families. None are married or hold a regular job. Researcher scored more small gains while mothers reported more substantial gains. Discussion and conclusion: 10-15 year outcome of children with ASD showed mixed results. Parents reported considerable benefits in social adjustment in half of the sample in comparison in quarter by independent researcher. Reasons for such difference were discussed. In future, we need to expand the follow up duration and use measurable parameters to assess benefits. Keywords: ASD; Adolescence; Young adult; Outcome; Social; Bahrain Introduction Today adolescents and young adult persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) enjoy better opportunities than their predecessors. They have a better chance to be diagnosed early, receive special education, behavioural intervention, early school education and live with their families rather than institutions. The beginning of adulthood often involves significant changes in educational, vocational, housing, and interpersonal domains and the development of new roles and identity formation. Such changes are especially more stressful for adolescents with ASD and their families due to inherent difficulty of coping with change for persons with ASD. Additionally, the heterogeneity of ASD may make it challenging for families to develop clear expectations for the future. Finally, there are an increasing number of individuals with autism spectrum disorders entering adulthood; it is still unclear how the disorder impacts individuals later in the life course. Earlier reports from Europe, North America and Japan regarding adolescents with ASD revealed poor social adjustment for the majority [1-5]. Many remained in institutions for mentally ill people, lived in isolation, with very low work capacity skills level. Some studies identified good intellectual ability and the presence of speech at age 6 year