Analysis of clinical and psychological characteristics of 225 children with autism spectrum disorder based on the C-PEP-3 scale

Table 3 Comparison of scores between different age groups in various functional areas

Categories	Age groups (mean ± SD)		t	P value
	< 3.5 years old (n = 113)	> 3.5 years old (n = 112)
Imitation (P)	5.55 ± 2.37	4.43 ± 2.25	3.637	0.000b
Perception (P)	6.69 ± 1.71	6.36 ± 1.64	1.489	0.138
Fine motor (P)	5.47 ± 1.87	4.03 ± 1.59	6.240	0.000b
Gross motor (P)	9.21 ± 1.31	8.33 ± 1.46	4.766	0.000b
Hand-eye coordination (P)	7.98 ± 2.42	6.04 ± 1.66	7.041	0.000b
Cognitive performance (P)	7.73 ± 4.26	5.99 ± 3.23	3.445	0.001b
Verbal cognition (P)	6.64 ± 3.93	4.79 ± 3.32	3.798	0.000b
Emotions (S)	1.27 ± 1.36	1.09 ± 1.12	1.113	0.267
Interpersonal relationships (S)	1.46 ± 1.51	1.39 ± 1.55	0.330	0.742
Game and item preferences (S)	1.32 ± 1.54	1.20 ± 1.48	0.606	0.545
Sensory patterns (S)	2.49 ± 2.21	2.32 ± 1.69	0.631	0.529
Language (S)	2.88 ± 2.41	3.18 ± 2.25	-0.974	0.331

^bP < 0.01.