The purposes of the study were to identify whether differences exist between Spanish
children with ASD and neurotypical development in relation to Activities of Daily Living (ADL),
playfulness, and sensory processing; as well as to confirm whether a relation exists between those
areas and sensory processing. Study Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Methods: Forty
children, 20 with a diagnosis of ASD and 20 with neurotypical development, were recruited. The
measurement tools used were the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory (PEDI), Test of Playfulness (ToP), and Sensory Processing Measure (SPM). Results: The sensory processing of children
with ASD were related to decreased functional skills performance of ADL (F = 94.4, p = 0.00) and
playfulness (p = 0.00) than neurotypical children; in addition, the problems of sensory reactivity
were associated with worse development in these occupational areas (p = 0.00 for both Spearman
correlations). Conclusions: Children with ASD present worse performance of functional skills and
playfulness than neurotypical ones. Likewise, sensory reactivity is related to the development in the
occupational areas.
