Individuals with pervasive developmental disorders face problems in three areas. They have qualitative impairments in social interactions, in communication and have restricted, repetitive,...Show moreIndividuals with pervasive developmental disorders face problems in three areas. They have qualitative impairments in social interactions, in communication and have restricted, repetitive, stereotyped patterns of behavior, interests and activities. In addition, it is not always clear which disorders co-occur with autism and what the impact is on the psychosocial skills. The thesis is: "What is the relationship between autism, comorbid disorders and psychosocial skills? '. Primary and secondary schools were approached and asked to spread a letter amongst the parents, in which the parents and the child were asked to individually and independently fill in a questionnaire on the internet. The ‘Vragenlijst Psychosociale Vaardigheden’ (VPV) measures the psychosocial skills of young people and is used to compare these skills between different groups of young people. The sample consisted of 432 children and adolescents. The study shows that autism relatively often associates with ADHD and less often with anxiety disorders and ODD / CD. Also, the results show that children and adolescents with autism have developed less relational and affective skills than children and adolescents without a disorder and children and adolescents with a disorder other than autism. Furthermore, the self-awareness of children and adolescents with autism is less developed than that of children and adolescents without a disorder, but better developed than that of children and adolescents with autism and comorbid disorders. In addition, the self-management of young people with autism is less developed than that of children and adolescents without a disorder, are children and young people with autism and ADHD not facing more problems with self-management than the other research groups and are young people with autism and ODD / CD facing problems with all psychosocial skills. Finally, the study shows that the level of psychosocial skills of children and adolescents with autism is lower when comorbid disorders are present.Show less
