Pain expression in children suffering from autism

Abstract EN

Pain expressed by children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is now left aside because of the fact that only little research has investigated this topic.

The objective of this research is to identify how do children with ASD express pain.

Concerning the materials and methods, we conducted a cross-sectional study on 12 children with ASD in the internal medicine department at MAALEM Lahcen hospital in Ghazaouet.

All subjects underwent venipuncture.

Reactivity to pain was assessed by a pain assessment grid inspired by GED DI and CFCS.

We measured the intensity of ASD in children using the CARS (E, Schoppler, 1971), and their developmental level using the Vineland-I (V, E, Doll & S, Sparrow).

Results showed that the responses of children with ASD to painful stimulation were distributed as follows: Facial responses 49 percent, verbal responses 32 percent, and behavioral responses 19 percent.

To conclude, pain expression in children with ASD is most of the time hypo-reactive in response to significant child deficiency in terms of communication and interaction.