Symposia
Autism Spectrum and Developmental Disorders
Cristian M. Botello, M.S.
UTRGV
Edinburg, Texas
Analia Rosoli Murillo, MS
Psychologist
3) Organización Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación, la Ciencia y la Cultura (OEI),
Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, Dominican Republic
Sebastian Cukier, MD
Child Psychiatrist
PANAACEA
Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Background: The Covid-19 pandemic has forced many countries to implement quarantine and stay at home orders. Such orders directly impacted social interaction activities and daily activities, having a differential influence in autistic individual (Oomen et al., 2021). Autistic individuals experience higher rates of psychological disorders when compared to their peers without autism (Stice and Lavner ,2019). The identification of co-occurring conditions in this population will depend on the informant (Kanne et al., 2010). Teachers and services providers tend to report fewer symptoms and comorbid conditions in autistic individuals compared to parents ratings.
Method: The aim of this study was to describe the impact of COVId19 pandemic in externalizing and externalizing behaviors in autistic children in Latino America , according to service providers . A total of 362 service providers ( speech-language pathologist, occupational therapists, ABA therapists, etc) residents of different Latin American countries completed an anonymous online survey about changes in externalizing and internalizing behaviors of autistic individual they were servicing during the pandemic. Frequencies and central tendency analysis were conducted.
Result indicated service providers endorsed an increase of in externalizing behaviors (hitting, pinching, biting, and pushing; 38.7%); anxiety (59.7%) ; difficulties with concentration and memory (56.6%). , and mood changes (47%) in their clients during the pandemic.
Conclusion: Service providers identified an important increase of both externalizing and internalizing behaviors in their clients during the COVID-19 pandemic. From a multi informant perspectives, these results help clinicians and researchers understand how the pandemic and lockdown measures has contributed to the deterioration of the mental health in autistic individuals in Latin America.