Table 3.

Pre-/Post-AAD results

	Pre-AAD (T1)			Post-AAD (T2)			Za	r	Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed)	Exact Sig. (2-tailed)
	Mean	SD	Median	Mean	SD	Median
A. Parent (self-report) and child (parent-report) measures
Parent
AFEQ (N = 11)
Child development, understanding, social relationships	50.82	6.76	27.00	44.55	4.72	22.00	− 2.675	0.807	0.007**	0.005**
Child symptoms (feelings and behavior)	35.91	3.05	60.00	34.55	3.27	58.00	− 2.952	0.890	0.003**	0.001**
Experience of being a parent of a child with autism	33.91	3.70	33.00	31.91	3.75	32.00	− 1.636	0.493	0.102	0.109
Family life	27.64	3.32	25.00	24.36	4.20	21.00	− 2.398	0.723	0.016*	0.014**
AFEQ total	148.27	9.55	149.00	135.36	10.11	132.00	− 2.936	0.885	0.003**	0.001**
APSI (N = 10b)	21.80	5.81	24.00	17.40	4.33	16.50	− 2.255	0.713	0.024*	0.023*
PSS (N = 11)	21.45	6.96	23.00	17.55	5.43	16.00	− 2.361	0.712	0.018*	0.016*
STAI (N = 11)
State anxiety	46.36	13.57	48.00	40.64	9.79	40.00	− 2.045	0.617	0.041*	0.043*
Trait anxiety	49.64	12.18	54.00	44.45	10.29	46.00	− 2.398	0.723	0.016*	0.014**
Child
AQ-child (N = 11)	50.91	13.97	54.00	45.55	13.19	51.00	− 2.503	0.755	0.012**	0.012**
CBCL (N = 11)
Anxious/Depressed subscale	6.00	4.47	6.00	3.82	3.19	4.00	− 2.273	0.685	0.023*	0.023*
Withdrawn/Depressed subscale	3.91	0.94	4.00	3.64	1.43	4.00	− 0.796	0.240	0.426	0.410
Somatic Complaints subscale	3.18	3.46	1.00	2.27	2.65	1.00	− 1.613	0.486	0.107	0.172
Social problems	6.64	3.01	7.00	5.09	2.39	5.00	− 2.582	0.779	0.010**	0.010**
Thought problems	9.64	2.66	9.00	9.18	2.68	9.00	− 0.621	0.187	0.535	0.580
Attention problems	12.73	3.04	12.00	11.27	3.13	11.00	− 2.676	0.807	0.007**	0.007**
Rule-breaking behavior	2.64	1.91	2.00	2.18	1.40	2.00	− 0.741	0.223	0.458	0.547
Aggressive behavior	12.00	5.31	12.00	7.82	4.00	6.00	− 2.454	0.740	0.014**	0.012**
Internalizing problems	13.09	7.08	12.00	9.73	5.31	8.00	− 2.680	0.808	0.007**	0.004**
Externalizing problems	14.64	6.83	14.00	10.00	4.94	9.00	− 2.315	0.698	0.021*	0.019*
CBCL Total problems	27.73	12.62	26.00	19.73	9.11	21.00	− 2.603	0.785	0.009**	0.006**
SRS-2 (N = 11)
Social awareness	15.73	2.80	16.00	15.45	2.84	16.00	− 0.051	0.015	0.959	1.000
Social cognition	22.73	3.50	23.00	20.45	3.47	21.00	− 2.149	0.648	0.032*	0.035*
Social communication	39.27	7.67	38.00	35.55	8.38	35.00	− 2.347	0.708	0.019*	0.016*
Social motivation	18.09	4.11	19.00	15.73	5.12	18.00	− 2.363	0.712	0.018*	0.016*
Restricted interests and repetitive behavior	21.18	3.92	22.00	21.09	4.46	22.00	− 0.211	0.064	0.833	0.844
SRS total	117.00	15.92	121.00	108.27	19.20	111.00	− 2.003	0.604	0.045*	0.048*
B. Cortisol concentration measures
Chronic cortisol concentration (pg/mg)
Parent (N = 6)	10.255	6.098	7.710	6.127	4.176	3.975	− 2.201	0.898	0.028*	0.031*
Child (N = 5)	9.164	2.774	8.400	5.526	1.518	4.910	− 2.023	0.905	0.043*	0.063†

^aWilcoxon signed ranks test: based on positive ranks

^bMissing data in responses from one Pre-AAD APSI

**p ≤ 0.01

*p ≤ 0.05

†p ≤ 0.10