The relationship between sensory experiences and social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder

Objective: This study was undertaken to substantiate the connection between sensory experiences and social functioning among 142 children ages 4–10 years with autism spectrum disorder.Methods: Using an online cross-sectional survey, mothers’ perceptions of sensory and social characteristics of their children on parent-reported measures of sensory experiences and social functioning were collected.Findings: Using SPSS software to follow the related descriptive statistics and correlational analysis, the results indicated that children had different levels of challenging sensory experiences and social interaction difficulties. It was revealed that higher intensities of sensory issues were associated with lower levels of functioning and greater social interaction difficulties. Further analysis revealed that less awkward, unpleasant experiences in the auditory and tactile sensory functioning correlated with less social difficulties.Conclusions: Given that no causal relationship could be drawn in this study, the findings complemented those of earlier studies, which suggest engagement in social interactions may be correlated with sensory response patterns.