Assessment of Behavioral disorders of children with Autism

Abstract

Background: Autistic disorder is a neurological disorder that causes a broad area of behavior impairments in children, including: hyperactivity, short attention span, impulsivity, aggressiveness, self – injurious behavior, tempers tantrum and abnormalities of eating or sleeping may be found. There is an increased rates of autism reached to 10-17% per year. It is the fastest-growing serious developmental disability in the worldwide over the past decades. Objective: The study aims to assess the autistic child behavior. Methodology: A descriptive correlational study was conducted in Jun 15th 2013 to October 15th 2013 on children with autism in Baghdad city. Purposive (non-probability) samples of 78 autistic children who are clients and receive care in the private specialization centers for autism were selected to participate in the current study. The study uses a parent-completed questionnaire for data collection. The behavior of autistic child was assessed using the Indian Scale for Assessment of Autism (ISAA). Results: The findings indicated that most children were males of 4-12 years old with mean 5.78 years. The highest percentage of children reported a moderate level of the impairment in social interaction, behavioral pattern problems, sensory responses abnormalities and lack of emotional responses. And the highest percentage of children reported a mild level in communication difficulties and delay in cognition and perceptual functioning. Half of children reported a moderate level of the total score of behavioral problems for all domains. Conclusions: All autistic children displayed the same behavioral disorders with different levels of severity. There is no significant relationship between the severity of autistic behavior and the child’s age and the child’s sex. Recommendations: The study recommends that Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs policy should give the autistic children support and high quality of services to help them to coping with this disorder. Those children need for special rehabilitative and behavioral programs dealing with their behavioral problems.