Relations between the Perception of Communication Difficulties, Stress Levels and Behavior of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The way that children are perceived by their families interferes with their experiences in society demanding that the parents’ perspectives are taken into account. The aim of this study was to identify the association among the autism symptoms reported by the parents of children with ASD, their perception of communication difficulties and the stress level reported by them. Participants were the parents of 19 children with ASD. They answered three questionnaires: the Autism Behavior Checklist, one questionnaire about their difficulties in communicating with their child and another about their stress level. Each domain of each questionnaire was correlated with all items of the other two. The results indicated that there was no association among the answers. These results suggest what parents of children with ASD perceive as difficulties when communicating with their child and their stress level is not associated with the severity of the symptoms they identify in their child. The parents’ perceptions about subjective issues of life reflect on how they cope with the specific needs of their children.