Relationships Between Meteorological Variables and Academic Performance and Behavior in Children with Autism

Abstract

Professionals working with children in educational settings have made inferences that weather variation has an effects student behavior and performance. Scant research supports that some meteorological variables have relationships to student behaviors in neurotypical adults and children. No research to date has investigated the relationships between meteorological variables and the behavior and academic performance of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Two boys and one girl with ASD took part in this study (ages=8 and 5). Daily observational data were collected on targeted behaviors and academic performance tasks for each student for one hour in the morning. Meteorological data concerning barometric pressure, humidity, moon illumination, and temperature were collected from the national weather service for the time period of observation. Data for target behaviors and academic performance tasks were compared to meteorological variables using scatter plots for identification of existing relationships. Results indicated no significant relationships between student behavior and academic variables and meteorological variables. Some weak relationships were identified that indicate this area requires additional investigation to identify any relationships that could be generalized to the population of individuals with ASD.