CORRELAÇÃO ENTRE O NÍVEL DE GRAVIDADE E O NÍVEL DE FUNCIONALIDADE EM CRIANÇAS COM TRANSTORNO DO ESPECTRO AUTISTA

Abstract

Objective: to verify if there is a correlation between the level of severity and the level of functionality in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Method: observational, quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study with children of both sexes, aged between 8 and 12 years, diagnosed with ASD, in multidisciplinary follow-up for more than 6 months. The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) was applied to measure the level of ASD and the Pediatric Assessment of Disability Inventory (PEDI) to assess performance. Data were processed using SPSS.v20.0 software. For adherence to the normality curve, the Shapiro-Wilk test was used. To characterize the sample, relative and absolute frequencies were used. For correlation between the variables, the Spearman correlation test was used. The previously adopted significance value was p<0.05. Results: 53.3% were classified as having mild – moderate ASD. The higher the score obtained in the CARS, the greater the disability score in the areas evaluated by the PEDI and the greater the assistance needed by caregivers. Conclusion: the research revealed that there is a directly proportional correlation between the level of ASD and the level of functionality. The higher the level of ASD, the greater the functional disability of the children.