Elahe Farahani; Mohsen Saeidmanesh; Farangis Demehri
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to compare the effectiveness of teaching two methods of image exchange communication system and matrix teaching on language skills and social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder. The method of this research was a semi-experimental method with a pre-test-post-test ...
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The purpose of this research was to compare the effectiveness of teaching two methods of image exchange communication system and matrix teaching on language skills and social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder. The method of this research was a semi-experimental method with a pre-test-post-test design along with a control group. The statistical population includes all children referred to autism centers in Qom city in 2021 who had symptoms of the disorder according to DSM criteria and were diagnosed with autism disorder according to the centers and experts. 45 people (9 girls and 36 boys) were randomly selected from autism centers in Qom province and randomly divided into two experimental groups and one control group. The experimental groups were subjected the 6-step treatment of the picture exchange communication system and matrix training individually for 3 months and 4 sessions of 15 to 20 minutes each week, and the control group did not receive any intervention. In this research, expressive and receptive and speaking language tests of Nyusha Development and Autism Social Skills Profile were used to collect data. SPSS 26 software was used for data analysis and the statistical method of multivariate covariance analysis was used. The final results showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups of matrix training and PEX treatment (p<0.05). Based on the results, both interventions were effective, but it can be said that the communication system of image exchange is more effective in the language skills and social skills of children with autism spectrum disorder.