Severity Levels of Autism, Social Interaction Behaviours and School Adjustment of Pre-School Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

School adjustment throughout the early years of formal schooling has been examined on scientific studies for various reasons. Because it predicts certain parts of school success in later years, school adjustment has been suggested to become a focus of research. Although there are numerous factors affecting school adjustment, these factors appear to be categorised as being related to child, family and school or programme. This study examines the relationship between the severity levels of autism in preschool children and their social interaction behaviours characteristic to autism, and their school adjustment. For this purpose, data gathered from a total of 40 students, 6 girls and 34 boys. The age range of the children was 44 to 78 months. Findings reveal that severity levels of disability and social interaction behaviours that are characteristic to ASD predict the school adjustment of preschool children with ASD by 54% in the category of Classroom Participation and by 44% negatively and significantly in the category of Positive Orientation. The findings were discussed based on the literature findings.