Assessing the Psychometric Properties of a Social Communication Test for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The proposed test is aimed to help in properly diagnosing children on the ASD spectrum and designing appropriate treatment plans for them. Due to the fact that social and communication skills are one of the major distinctive characteristics of ASD (National Research Council, 2001, DSM-5, 2013), this research study attempts to provide a test in Arabic language, the ASEST test, for the assessment of these skills. Adequate and accurate assessment of social and communication skills is considered to be one of the corner stone's in the assessment and diagnosis of ASD. The ASEST is designed to assess the social and communication skills of children with ASD in Saudi children between the ages of 6 and 11:11 years. It is critical to develop standardized tests in Arabic language that are linguistically and culturally appropriate. Due to the fact that social and communication skills are one of the major distinctive characteristics of ASD (National Research Council, 2001, DSM-5, 2013), this research attempts to provide a test in Arabic language for the assessment of these skills.