Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities that can cause considerable social, communication, behavioral challenges and it affects 7.6 million people according to the World Health Organization.

People with ASD often have issues with social, emotional, and communication skills. They might repeat certain behaviors and might not be comfortable with change occurring in their daily activities. Many of them also have different ways of learning, paying attention, or reacting to things. There is currently no cure for ASD. However, research shows that early intervention treatment services can improve a child’s development.

Adults with autism have a better chance of finding and keeping a job if they can effectively perform basic daily tasks, such as bathing, brushing their teeth, cleaning and preparing meals, new research reveals.

Investigators found that having strong self-care skills appears to be a more important predictor of employment success than an individual's intellect or symptom severity.

"I want to make clear that our research is not an indictment on parents having done something incorrectly. It's just that the focus is often on teaching social communication skills and speech therapy, rather than on practical, if mundane, skills. Our findings suggest the importance of working with families on just these kinds of home-based skills and maybe that means going outside a normal clinic setting to offer home-based intervention services where we can really help parents help their children." said Laura Klinger, an associate professor in the department of psychiatry and executive director of the TEACCH Autism Program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Quelle: ​http://www.webmd.com/default.htm [1]​