Understanding the Behavioral Problems and Oral Health Status of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Narrative Review

@#Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopment disorder with an unidentified etiology and wide-ranging functional impact. This narrative review aimed to identify various behaviours and oral health problems among children with ASD, recognize the barriers towards oral health care, and identify the strategies for oral health care management. Online databases (Scopus, PubMed and Google Scholar) were used by using various search terms. All types of articles with different level of evidence were included. Articles which were not in English and were not available in full text were excluded. Various behavioural problems among ASD contributed to various oral healthcare challenges that lead to compromise oral health status. Caregivers and dental professionals have to identify these problems towards strategizing an effective oral health management for them. Therefore, this narrative review provide an insight towards controlling the oral health problems faced through preventative and practical approach for the chidlren with ASD.

The Unmet Needs Among Parents of Disabled Children at Support Institutions in Kelantan, Malaysia

Abstract@#Introduction: Parents of a disabled child might require extra basic needs which most of the time are unmet due to several factors. Thus, understanding the unmet needs could help the respective institution to provide and prioritise the needs required. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September to December 2013 to determine the proportion of unmet needs among parents of children with disabilities at support institutions in Kelantan, Malaysia. Biological parents of disabled children aged between 2 to 18 years old were included in the study. A 35item validated Malay version of the Family Needs Survey was used in this study. A scoring of 4-point Likert scale was used; the prevalence of unmet needs was determined based on the proportion of those who scored “3” from each domain. Results: A total of 226 parents were involved in the present study. The mean age of parents and children were 44.6 (8.99) and 10.2 (4.85) years old respectively. The most common type of disabilities was learning disability (n=151, 66.8%). The unmet need for information has the highest prevalence (97.8%), followed by the unmet need for social support (93.8%). Conclusion: Parents with disabled children require information to guide them in managing their children. Findings from this study may better enable policymakers to devote resources in assisting parents, and service providers in designing appropriate interventions in fulfilling the unmet needs of these parents.