Participation of Children with ASD in Social, Recreational, and Leisure Activities

Background: Participation in activities can afford children opportunities for social interaction, social skill and friendship development, as well as improved mental and physical health and self-worth (e.g., Buttimer & Tierney, 2005; Cowart, Saylor, Dingle, & Mainor, 2004; King et al., 2003). However, children with disabilities engage in fewer activities, and when they do participate often do so primarily with adults (Cowart et al., 2004; Modell, Rider, & Menchetti, 1997; Orsmond, Krauss & Seltzer, 2004; Sloper, Turner, Knussen, & Cunninghan, 1990).

Objectives: The current study examined the activity participation of children with autism or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and compared this participation to that of typically developing children (TD) (children who did not have any known diagnoses) and children with a diagnosis of an intellectual disability (ID).

Methods: Participants were parents of 185 children (114 male) divided into three groups: children with an ASD with or without a comorbid ID (n = 65), TD children (n = 90), or children with ID without ASD (n = 30). Parents completed a questionnaire designed for this research reporting about their child’s participation in social, recreational, and leisure activities. Social activities referred to informal activities with peers (e.g., playing at friends’ houses), recreational activities referred to more formally organized and structured activities (e.g., playing on a hockey team/taking music lessons), and leisure activities referred to more passive activities (e.g., playing on the computer). Parents were also asked “with whom” each activity was completed (i.e., with peers, parents or other adults). 

Results: The TD children participated in significantly more social and recreational activities than the children with either ASD or ID. Children in all three groups participated in a similar number of leisure activities. The TD children participated in a significantly greater percentage of their social and recreational activities (but not leisure activities) with peers. Children with either ASD or ID participated in proportionately more social activities with parents and with other adults. The TD children had significantly more “mutual friends” and “best friends”. Comparing the ASD and ID groups specifically, the children with ASD participated in substantially more leisure activities with adults than the children with ID. Furthermore, the children with ASD participated in significantly fewer recreational activities with peers than the children with ID. Finally, the children with ID had more friends and were more likely to have a best friend than were the children with ASD.

Conclusions: This pattern of results was not surprising given the social impairments inherent in a diagnosis of ASD. However, these findings also suggest that children with ASD are at an increased disadvantage when interacting with peers and engaging in activities independent of adults. When conducting research on activity participation, combining children with different diagnoses into one group and/or amalgamating social, recreational, and leisure activities into general activity participation may obscure important differences. Future research in this area should continue to take into account not only whether children are engaging in activities but explore more precisely “with whom” these activities are occurring.