Sensory Issues and Their Impact Among Autistic Children: A Cross-Sectional Study in Northern Sri Lanka.

Background: Sensory processing issues are among the key diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As altered sensory processing causes autistic children to react differently to sensory experiences and has a profound impact on their development, affecting their learning ability, social interaction, and ability to adapt to a new environment, there is a need to recognize and address these issues in children diagnosed with ASD during assessments and interventions. This study aimed to identify the patterns of sensory issues and their impact, and selected correlates among autistic children attending a center for neurodevelopmental disorders in northern Sri Lanka.
Methods: This institution-based, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at a center for neurodevelopmental disorders in Jaffna among 100 children diagnosed with ASD. The sociodemographic details of the child, and scores of the Childhood Autism Rating Scale second edition (CARS™ 2), Sensory Profile™ 2, and a locally developed Behavioral Checklist were extracted from the records available at the center. Data were analyzed using R statistical computing software (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria) using general linear models.
Results: All the children in this study had at least one sensory issue, with 50% having visual processing issues. The severity of ASD increased as auditory processing issues increased. Behavioral issues, in general, increased significantly with increasing auditory and visual processing issues. Repetitive behaviors significantly increased with increasing auditory processing issues, while problems with self-regulation increased significantly with increasing visual and movement processing issues. Conduct-related issues were found to increase significantly with increasing movement and visual processing issues, and attentional response issues were found to increase significantly with increasing auditory, visual, and touch processing issues.
Conclusion: The high prevalence of sensory issues in autistic children and its impact on the severity of ASD and behavioral issues are reiterated in this study. These results emphasize the importance of including interventions targeting sensory issues with the routine therapy for ASD.
Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Ethics Review Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Jaffna issued approval J/ERC/22/143/NDR/0285. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
(Copyright © 2024, Sivapalan et al.)