Educational Facial Emotion Recognition in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Clinical Trial Study

Objectives: The disability to recognize facial emotions is one of the behavioral problems in autistic children. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of education on the promotion of face recognition. Methods: This single-blind clinical trial study was conducted on children with autism. The participants were allocated with random sampling to the two groups. Autistic children in the intervention group were educated in 10 sessions with 40 facial emotions images, each session lasted 20 min. Autistic children in the control group underwent routine teaching. The assistant researcher completed the Benton questionnaire for each child before and after the study. The obtained data were analyzed with SPSS software, version 22. Results: This study showed that education on facial emotions has good effects on the recognition of facial expressions by children with autism. In addition, a significant difference is identified between the two study groups in identifying facial emotions (P<0.001). Discussion: Education to children with autism improved facial emotion identification. Therefore, according to the increase in children with autism all over the world such as in Iran, it seems that caregivers and health managers should review and use our study results for providing a supportive environment to promote recognition emotional states of the face and ultimately to improve the child’s treatment.