Flourishing in children with autism spectrum disorders.

This was a cross-sectional survey, so it can show differences between groups but cannot show that autism causes lower flourishing or that therapy will improve it. Autism status and flourishing items were based on parent report, and the study did not confirm diagnoses. The analysis excluded children with intellectual disability, brain injury, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and those ever told they had autism but not currently having it, so it does not describe children with those conditions. The sample was primarily non-Hispanic white, so results may not apply equally across all backgrounds. Each flourishing item came from a small number of caregiver questions, so scores may be subjective and lack detail. The study did not examine how attention problems such as ADD or ADHD might affect diligence, reliability, or finishing tasks. Some family and neighborhood factors were not included in the flourishing comparison because the authors focused on child-level factors that could be targeted therapeutically.

The paper lists NIH extramural research support. The supplied text does not state author conflicts of interest.

Do not read these results as proof that therapy can improve flourishing. This was a survey of parent reports, not a treatment study, and autism diagnoses were not confirmed.