study objectives were to:~(a) Examine participation characteristics in self-care and daily activities of school-age children with HS-ASD and LS-ASD compared to children with typical development, based on the parent-reported Participation in Childhood Occupation Questionnaire (PICO-Q) for ASD and PEDI (b) Establish the validity and reliability of the WashHO assessment.~The research hypotheses were (A) Significant differences will be found among children with HS-ASD, children with LS-ASD, and children with typical development in results of the PICO-Q and the PEDI self-care subtest of independence.~(B1) The internal consistency of the WashHO assessment will be at a Cronbach alpha level equal to or greater than 70.~(B2) Significant differences will be found among children with HS-ASD, LS-ASD, and typical development in the WashHO assessment performance criteria, thus establishing the WashHO's discriminate validity.~(B3) Significant correlations will be found among the four PICO-Q ADL items, which involve performing a sequence of actions (bathing, hygiene, clothing, and washing hands) and the WashHO assessment performance scores, establishing its convergent validity.~(B4) Significant correlations will be found among the WashHO performance and degree of independence scores and the PEDI independence subtest in self-care, establishing the WashHO's concurrent validity.
This study aimed to investigate the performance of activities of daily living (ADL) among 53 children ages 6-10 years: 17 with high-severity ASD (HS-ASD), 16 with low-severity ASD (LS-ASD), and 20 controls with typical development. Methods: The assessment combined a parent-reported questionnaire (the Participation in Childhood Occupation; PICO) alongside the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI self-care) and Performance-based task, the Washing Hands Structured Observation (WashHO).