What About Life Skills? Tailoring Interventions for Autism and Beyond.

Abstract

Nearly 50 years of research have carefully documented daily living skills (DLS) deficits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder, which emerge early in life, appear to persist across development, and seem to affect people across this very heterogeneous condition.¹ The terminology and measures used to quantify life skills challenges vary across conditions, but such deficits are also common in people with intellectual disability, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, internalizing and externalizing disorders, and schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.² Though deficits in life skills are not a diagnostic criterion for autism, they should be a focus of support and treatment across the life span.