Thriving in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Most research on mental health in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) has focused on deficits. We examined individual (i.e., sociocommunicative skills, adaptive behavior, functional cognitive skills) and contextual (i.e., home, school, and community participation) correlates of thriving in 330 youth with ID and ASD compared to youth with ID only, 11–22 years of age (M = 16.74, SD = 2.95). Youth with ASD and ID were reported to thrive less than peers with ID only. Group differences in sociocommunicative ability and school participation mediated the relationship between ASD and less thriving. Research is needed to further elucidate a developmental-contextual framework that can inform interventions to promote mental health and wellness in individuals with ASD and ID.

Community participation of youth with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder

“…) and functional cognitive ability (4‐item scale; Sterzing et al . ); however, youth with ID and ASD ( M = 2.36, SD = .56) were reported to have significantly lower sociocommunicative skills (7‐item measure; Weiss & Burnham Riosa ) as compared to youth with ID only ( M = 2.92, SD = .57; t (210) = 6.66, P < .001, d = .99).…”

“…a particular genetic syndrome). Similar processes have been used to ascertain developmental disability in past parent report surveys of youth and young adults with ASD and ID (Daniels et al 2011;Kogan et al 2008Kogan et al , 2009Lin et al 2012;Totsika et al 2011;Weiss & Burnham Riosa 2015).…”

“…groups. The groups did not differ with respect to youth or caregiver characteristics, including youth adaptive behaviour (Waisman Activities of Daily Living Scale;Maenner et al 2013) and functional cognitive ability (4-item scale;Sterzing et al 2012); however, youth with ID and ASD (M = 2.36, SD = .56) were reported to have significantly lower sociocommunicative skills (7-item measure;Weiss & Burnham Riosa 2015) as compared to youth with ID only (M = 2.92, SD = .57; t(210) = 6.66, P < .001, d = .99).…”

Participation in recreational activities buffers the impact of perceived stress on quality of life in adults with autism spectrum disorder

“…For instance, Orsmond et al () identified relatively high levels of weekly participation in recreational activities, including walking or getting exercise (74.5%), working on hobbies (41.3%), and participating in group recreational activities (35.3%). Recent research from Weiss and Burnham Riosa () indicates that, on average, Special Olympics athletes ages 11 to 22 with ASD and co‐occurring intellectual disabilities (IDs) participate in recreational activities about three times per week. Other research finds that most adults with ASD participated in recreational activities during the past 3 months (Gray et al, ).…”

Patterns of sport participation for youth with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disabilities

“…As shown in Table 1, athletes were on average 17 years of age (SD = 3.05) and 64% were male (n = 261). Parents reported and has been used with parents of individuals with ASD (Mazurek, Shattuck, Wagner, & Cooper, 2012;Weiss & Burnham Riosa, 2015).…”