Anxiety in Children with Autism at School: a Systematic Review

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Accepted Manuscript (AM)

Author(s)
Adams, Dawn
Young, Kate
Keen, Deb
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2019
Size
File type(s)
Location
License
Abstract

Anxiety in autism is commonly reported by parents, but teacher reports of anxiety in their students with autism have received little attention. This paper presents the results from the first systematic review on anxiety in children with autism at school. Six intervention studies (five of which were based upon cognitive–behavioural therapy) and 26 descriptive/non-experimental studies met inclusion criteria. Sample populations from included studies were frequently drawn from psychiatric clinics, with females and children attending special schools underrepresented, making generalisability of results difficult. Few studies used anxiety-specific measures, with most reporting anxiety-related subscale means from broader emotional/behavioural questionnaires. While 19 studies included multiple informants, which is recommended practice, only seven studies combined parent, teacher and child reports of anxiety. Comparison between informants proved difficult, with varying sample sizes and few studies using the same measure across participant groups. To further our understanding of the presentation of anxiety in children with autism attending school, studies need to include multiple informants and, where possible, extend beyond reporting average scores from broad anxiety subscales to provide descriptions of presentation and symptomatology.

Journal Title

Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2019 Springer US. This is an electronic version of an article published in Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, AOV 2019. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders is available online at: http://link.springer.com/ with the open URL of your article.

Item Access Status
Note

This publication has been entered into Griffith Research Online as an Advanced Online Version.

Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Specialist studies in education

Special education and disability

Neurosciences

Applied and developmental psychology

Biological psychology

Persistent link to this record
Citation
Collections