The relationship between anxiety, social skills deficit and autism spectrum disorder among autistic children in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between anxiety and social skills deficit and ASD in children living with autism. Focusing on Nairobi County in Kenya, the author engaged parents and teachers of 40 children and adolescents aged 5-21 years old. The study adopted a quasi-experimental design in two schools representing the experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) schools. Questionnaires were used for data collection. The intervention was done immediately after the baseline data was collected and followed up for six months. There was a significant decline in social skills deficits p=0.006 (95% C.I (4.97, 27.8)). In addition, remission of anxiety and social skills deficits is achievable by MASSI in children and adolescents with ASD in schools. The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS-2) was used to measure the Autism Spectrum Disorder with scores ranging from 1- not accurate to 4 – almost always true. The indicator depicts reliable internal consistency of 0.90, with a higher score implying greater severity of the social deficit syndrome. The study found out that there was a correlation between the symptoms of anxiety and social skills deficits, anxiety problems in school-age children and adolescents and finally, social skills with ASD among the studied population. The study recommended that parents and caregivers of autistic children ought to adopt Skinner's contingency of reinforcement, address and support children's necessities having ASD and finally raising funds would enable the Ministry of Education to develop a curriculum that would address, prioritise and focus on the skill deficits most specific and appropriate to autism.