The Relationship between Parents' Cognitive Characteristics and the Severity of Socio-Verbal Deficits and Stereotyped Behaviors in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Predicting the probability of autism from parents' cognitive characteristics plays an important role in preventive behaviors. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between parents' cognitive characteristics and the severity of socio-verbal deficits in children with autism spectrum disorders.

In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 28 child members of the Kerman autism center and their parents were referred to this center were considered during six months in 2022. Data were collected through two questionnaires of the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale (Garz) and the Persian version of the Short Cognitive Assessment Test in Schizophrenia.

In this study, 28 children (including 20 boys and 8 girls) with autism with an average age of 8 ± 2, along with their parents, were included in the study. There was no statistically significant relationship between the average score of children's stereotyped behaviors, the average score of children's relationships, and the average score of social interactions of people with autism with the average scores of different cognitive domains of parents.

Considering the lack of correlation between the variables, it is more important to focus on academic interventions and characteristics of the disease to determine the severity of socio-verbal defects and stereotyped behaviors, while some factors like the small sample size of the study reduce the possibility of generalization.