A CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY BASED ON PERCEPTION OF CAREGIVERS TO COMMUNICATION BARRIERS WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER CHILDREN

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Communication has been a hallmark in autistic children with verbal and non-verbal language difficulties. These challenges may lead towards the development of syntactic structure that may cause understanding issues and communication breakdown. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the communicative barriers in ASD children and their parents.
METHODOLOGY
This cross-sectional survey was conducted at the special education schools of Karachi; enrolled 56 parents of ASD children using
non-probability convenience sampling technique. Data was collected through ‘communicative difficulties questionnaire.
RESULTS
It was reported that 40.5% parents have difficulties with their child while 57% to 59.5% were found to be upset with communication
difficulties. 24.1% parents have impression that their child doesn’t understand what they say.
CONCLUSION
Varied percentage was observed in communicative domains of the questionnaire that showed high proportion of communication
barriers between parents and child. Further studies are needed to analyze the communication between parents and autistic children
to address its impact.

KEY WORDS
Autism Spectrum Disorder, Fragile X-Syndrome, Motivation Behavior, Caregivers, Perception