Tools for Professionals to Diagnose Autism

Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is a group of neuro-developmental disorders that results in difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as social and emotional difficulties. In addition, limited
repertoire of interests and abnormal stereotyped behaviors are also noted. ASD affects one in 150 children with variable expression from mildly affected children who might be thought of as near normal to severely affected children who might be thought of as severely mental handicapped children. Diagnosing ASD, especially in young children can be extremely difficult and needs standardized and validated scales. The lecture will discuss and demonstrate the utility of such scales and the current research projects to make them available in the Saudi Environment.