Brief Report: Odour Awareness in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The elucidation of odour awareness in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) is important. We compared the odour awareness of young children with ASD with those of typical development (TD) children using the Children's Olfactory Behavior in Everyday Life (COBEL) questionnaire, which is a self-report measure that mainly assesses odour awareness. Forty-five young boys (aged 5-6 years), including 20 children with ASD and 25 TD children, participated in this study. The total COBEL score of the young children with ASD was lower than that of the TD children (p < 0.01). Moreover, the total COBEL score was significantly correlated with the total VABS II score (p < 0.05). Our results improve understanding of the odour awareness in children with ASD.