Measuring some mental abilities of people with autism spectrum disorder using an innovative device

Abstract

Autism is one of the disorders belonging to a group of developmental disorders called in medical language "autism spectrum disorders" Modern trends in diagnosing autism spectrum disorders. It appears during infancy, usually before the child reaches the age of three years. Although the severity and symptoms of autism vary from one case to another, all autism disorders affect the child's ability to communicate with those around him and develop mutual relationships with them. This disorder affects millions of people around the world and there is an increase in the number of cases of infection. The severity of the infection varies from one person to another, which makes it necessary to find innovative methods and tools that help assess the mental abilities of those infected in an accurate and unconventional way. The importance of the research lies in designing an innovative device to measure some of the mental abilities of those infected with autism. This device is an additional tool for the diagnosis and evaluation process, as the researcher hopes that this device will bring about a qualitative shift in improving the accuracy of the evaluation. The research problem included that there are many tools that measure the mental abilities of individuals with autism spectrum disorder, but these tools are often traditional and cannot keep pace with the unique challenges faced by individuals with autism, such as difficulty communicating or lack of attention. Therefore, the problem lies in the need for an innovative device that can overcome these challenges and provide a comprehensive and accurate assessment of mental abilities. The study aimed to identify the ability of the device to provide accurate assessments that help specialists in providing their therapeutic and educational services to individuals with autism spectrum disorder. As well as finding standard scores and levels for some mental ability tests for children with autism spectrum disorder. The researcher used the descriptive approach using the survey method. The sample consisted of children with autism spectrum disorder in each of (Al-Thaqalayn Academy for Autism and Developmental Disorders, Ana I Can Academy for Autism, Specialized Autism Center). The sample consisted of (21) children. It was concluded that the device designed by the researcher accurately measures some mental tests (numbers test, shapes test). Also, the standard scores created by the researcher represent the actual level of the research sample members. The researcher recommends using the standards and levels reached by the researcher to evaluate the level of some mental abilities in children with autism spectrum disorder.