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

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.