自闭症的大多数孩子怎么样？真的很好，研究证实了

Here’s some good news to kick off World Autism Day and the start of autism awareness month: New research shows that most children with autism are “doing well” by the time they’re in middle childhood—at least by certain measurements.

The study, which was published inJAMA Openon March 29, followed more than 270 children who were diagnosed with自闭症spectrum disorder (ASD) in Canada from roughly age 2 until they were around 10 years old—making it one of “the biggest longitudinal research studies of its kind in the world.”

The results showed that 80 percent of the participants achieved proficiency or growth in at least one of five key development areas, such as communication or socialization.

以下是仔细看看发现自闭症儿童的最新研究，以及采取“基于优势的方法”来衡量发展的重要性。

The Study

For this study, researchers led by The Hospital for Sick Children and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health recruited 272 children diagnosed with ASD from a mix of urban and rural clinics across Canada. Boys comprised 86 percent of the total group, and participants were nearly 3 1/2 years old, on average, at the start of the study.

The researchers measured children’s competency and improvement over time in five key areas of development: communication, socialization, daily living skills, and emotional health in terms of internalizing behavior and externalizing problems.

他们确定孩子们使用据报道的意见（通常是他们的母亲）以及由诊所和参与者教师完成的测试和其他工具的测试和其他工具。

Researchers collected this data on the participants across two different time periods (May 2005 through October 2012, then again between May 2009 and March 2018) to get a sense of how well the children were doing as they approached adolescence.

The study found that 80 percent of children with autism were “doing well,” defined as showing growth or competency in at least one发展区，当收集第二组数据时。更重要的是，20％的儿童在10岁以下的评估技能中做得很好。

“这是对该研究领域的文学的重要贡献，”Kiti Freier Randall, PhD, pediatric neurodevelopmental psychologist and medical director of the Inland Empire Autism Assessment Center of Excellence in San Bernardino, California. “It was a well done study. It was longitudinal, and those are hard to do because they take commitment.”

值得注意的是，本研究在加拿大进行，调查结果不一定是在美国自闭症的儿童普遍存在，在那里获得早期干预计划和其他服务可能不同。

More research is also needed to determine the how “well” children with autism do depending on their racial background, given disparities in access to healthcare and services among minorities, saysDaniel Bagner，博士学位，心理学教授万博maxbetx官网登陆Florida International University’s Center for Children and Familiesand director of theEarly Childhood Behavior Lab.

“Children with autism who are from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds do not receive services to the same extent as their white counterparts of higher socioeconomic status,” he explains. “In the context of racial equity, that’s a critical piece to consider.”

应用“基于优势”的自闭症方法

大多数关于自闭症的研究根据他们的赤字评估人们，例如智力或技能发展的差距。这项研究是独一无二的，因为它采取了“优势的方法”，提供了更全面的，以人为人的为中心的测量，因为他们的技能改善是以更老的提高技能的改进。

“基于优势的方法侧重于孩子挣扎的地方，更多关于我们可以利用的东西，”Bagner解释道。

Freier Randall uses the example of a child with autism who has difficulty with social-relational skills and communication to show how a strengths-based approach can be put in action.

“我会向父母说，你的孩子向你看待您的舒适和批准，而不是说他们只是不沟通，这是互惠沟通的开始，”她说。“这意味着我们可以建立一些东西。”

作者写道，他们更喜欢“做得好”这句话，而不是拥有“良好的结果”，因为它对自闭症人民的价值较少。This approach also acknowledges that improvements should not be thought of as having a final endpoint, but rather as a continuous journey throughout life.

“This approach helps acknowledge who the child is as an individual, what the family and community can provide, and the aspirations parents have for their child,” saysRebecca Mannis，博士，发展心理学家，学习专家，他教导了成年人和有特殊需求的儿童（包括自闭症）和创始人Ivy Prep Learning Centerin New York City. “It makes sense to look at the individual child and the trajectory of their independent growth, and it’s understandable that there would be variability because that’s the nature of autism.”

Looking at how well a child with autism is doing over time also allows them the opportunity to continue growing and improving, adds Frier Randall.

“I love the idea of talking about perhaps how they’re doing as an individual or meeting their potential and keeping alive growth and hope. When they meet goals, youset another goal, and you promote active continued growth,” she says.

让自闭症的儿童成功

This latest research highlights the importance of early diagnosis and intervention for children with autism. The findings showed that the participants who had greater difficulties withemotional healthat the beginning of the study were more likely to show growth in that area.

Likewise, those who had better emotional health at the start of the research had a higher likelihood of achieving competency in that area later in childhood.

“早期干预有所作为，”弗罗兰德尔说。“我们需要协调一致的努力来提供诊断，而不是标记每个孩子，而是在合适的时间为他们提供正确的干预措施。确定正确的治疗需要全面评估。“

Family is also critical to the success of children with autism. The research showed that children with better family functioning in areas like communication, discipline, and support tended to do better later in childhood.

“Family attributes have a lot to do with the outcomes of the child—no matter the child—but certainly the child with developmental delays or disabilities,” says Freier Randall. “The family home environment is the container for the child, and it’s important that the container doesn’t join a child’s chaos, but provide stability for it.”

这是一个支持的，稳定的环境从孩子的福祉中的父母的强大投资开始，增加了曼尼斯。

“父母对批判性和理解和分析有关自闭症的新信息非常重要，”她说。“父母应该使用这些信息成为他们的孩子最好的倡导者和啦啦队。”

None of this is in a vacuum, though, an experts say it’s critical that communities and governments continue to look for new ways to support the families of children with autism—especially now, given the ongoing大流行的挑战.

“Right now, in terms of COVID, resources and interventions have been halted or altered,” says Freier Randall. “These families are under a ton of stress and we, as a community, need to band around them and support them, so they can be the family environment that this article shows helps children do well.”