Identifiying Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in School Children for Placement Using a Valid Screening Instrument in Nigeria

Abstract

The purpose of the study was the use of an adapted valid Childhood Autistic Rating Scale (CARS) to identify Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in school children for the purpose of placement and intervention in a special school that comprised categories of children with intellectual disabilities. Samples of 52 subjects randomly selected from the population of 138 were used to rate their behaviours using the CARS. Using nonexperimental research design of cross-categorical survey (descriptive research) was considered most suitable for the study. This is a survey that studies a group of sample in order to identify traits of such group. With the use of statistical data of chi-square, scores collected from the participants revealed that there was no significant difference in the scores or ratings. Also, the result obtained from the use of t-test indicated that the instrument significantly differentiate ASDs traits from Non-ASDs. The findings in this study prompted a suggestion that special schools, centres, homes etc should get this valid instrument handy for the purpose of identifying autistic traits in school children for correct placement and intervention.