| Sumario: | The delivery of services to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was disrupted during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which may have affected child functioning and caregiver quality of life (QoL). This study examined changes in service intensity, child adaptive functioning, and caregiver QoL during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 146 caregivers (87% mothers) of children with ASD (M age = 8.22 years; SD = 4.21) who were invited to complete an online survey about service intensity, child functioning, and caregiver QoL at four time points between the summer of 2020 and the summer of 2021. Simple regressions indicated that child adaptive functioning and caregiver QoL increased over time after stay-at-home orders were lifted. Fixed effects regression models indicated that increases in service intensity were associated with concurrent increases in caregiver physical QoL. Decreases in child repetitive behaviors were associated with concurrent increases in caregiver social and environmental QoL. These findings suggest that children and their caregivers demonstrated resilience in the year after stay-at-home orders were lifted. Additionally, service intensity and child repetitive behaviors may impact caregiver QoL, making these variables areas of opportunity for stakeholders and professionals. What This Paper Adds: Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, little research had examined how emergency situations affect children with ASD and their caregivers. To date, two studies have compared adaptive functioning in children with ASD using data collected prior to the pandemic and immediately after stay-at-home orders were lifted. No research to our knowledge has studied long-term changes in child adaptive functioning and parent quality of life during the pandemic. This study followed a cohort of caregivers of children with ASD during the year after stay-at-home orders were lifted to understand how the pandemic affected service intensity, child adaptive functioning, and caregiver QoL. Findings indicate small and gradual increases in adaptive functioning and caregiver QoL. Only the passage of time was associated with increases in adaptive functioning. In contrast, increases in service intensity and decreases in child repetitive behaviors were associated with increases in various aspects of parent QoL. Consistent with the two existing studies on this topic that reported stability in adaptive functioning when assessed at two time points prior to and very early in the pandemic, findings suggest resiliency among children with ASD. Further, findings indicate a potential role of child service intensity and repetitive behaviors on caregiver QoL.
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