Objective: This study aims to statistically clarify the association between disability characteristics and school refusal in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).Methods: The subjects were 158 school-aged children with ASD who were prescribed rehabilitation at Narita Hospital of International University of Health and Welfare. The following information was collected from medical records: presence or absence of school refusal, age, gender, the Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ) scores, result of the Wechsler Intelligence Test 4th version, the Sensory Profile (SP) scores, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale for Children and Adolescents scores, decline in family functions, bullying, and enrolled class. Poisson regression analysis was conducted using both crude and adjusted models. School refusal was the dependent variable, while ASQ and SP subcategories were the independent variables. Age and other factors were used as covariates in the adjusted model.Results: The “sensory avoidance” of the SP subcategory was significantly associated with school refusal in both the crude and adjusted models (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.01-1.05, 1.03, 1.00-1.05, respectively).Conclusion: Analysis of the association between disability characteristics and school refusal in school-aged children with ASD suggests that sensory processing deficits are associated with school refusal.

Objective: This study aims to statistically clarify the association between disability characteristics and school refusal in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).Methods: The subjects were 158 school-aged children with ASD who were prescribed rehabilitation at Narita Hospital of International University of Health and Welfare. The following information was collected from medical records: presence or absence of school refusal, age, gender, the Autism Screening Questionnaire (ASQ) scores, result of the Wechsler Intelligence Test 4th version, the Sensory Profile (SP) scores, the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale for Children and Adolescents scores, decline in family functions, bullying, and enrolled class. Poisson regression analysis was conducted using both crude and adjusted models. School refusal was the dependent variable, while ASQ and SP subcategories were the independent variables. Age and other factors were used as covariates in the adjusted model.Results: The “sensory avoidance” of the SP subcategory was significantly associated with school refusal in both the crude and adjusted models (odds ratio, 95% confidence interval: 1.03, 1.01-1.05, 1.03, 1.00-1.05, respectively).Conclusion: Analysis of the association between disability characteristics and school refusal in school-aged children with ASD suggests that sensory processing deficits are associated with school refusal.