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Diagnosis of autistic children

The issue of diagnosing autistic children is an important issue, as on the basis of the child's diagnosis, his shortcomings will be determined, the quality of the services provided and the places that contribute to the provision of this service, and determine the type of intervention that suits the child. The fifth Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, issued by the American Psychiatric Association (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), referred to several diagnostic criteria for an autistic child:

Prof A persistent deficit in communication and social interaction in various contexts, and this is manifested by the following:

1- Disability in social and emotional relationships, ranging, for example, from social disability and failure to exchange conversations naturally; to a decrease in the participation of others in his interests, emotions, or influence with them; to failure to initiate or respond to social interactions.

2- Inability in the manifestations of non-verbal communication behaviours used in social interaction, ranging, for example, from poverty in the integration of verbal and non-verbal communication; to poor visual communication and body language or inability to understand and use signals: to a complete deficit in facial expressions and non-verbal communication.

3- Inability to develop, understand and maintain relationships, ranging, for example, from difficulties in adaptive behaviour to suit different social contexts; to difficulties in participating in imaginary play or making friends; to the absence of interest in peers.

Determine the current level of acuity:

The level of acuity depends on disabilities in social communication, restriction, and models of repetitive behaviours.

B. Repeated and specific models of behaviour, interests, or activities, as shown by the presence of at least two of the following:

1- Steremal and repetitive automatic movements, the use of objects, or speech (for example, simple and stereotypical mechanical movements, arrangement of play, imitation of objects, repetition of speech, specificity of phrases).

2- Insisting on symmetry, inflexibility in adhering to the routine, ritual patterns of verbal and non-verbal behaviour (for example, extreme distress when the slightest changes occur in his daily routine, difficulties in moving from one behaviour to another, rigid thinking models, greeting rituals performed in the same way daily, or eating the same food every day).

3- The presence of severe constraints, and fixed interests that are abnormal in sharpness and concentration (for example, strong attachment or preoccupation with unusual things, excessively strongly confined interests).

4- Hyper- or low interaction with sensory input or unusual interests with sensory aspects of the environment (e.g., apparent indifference to pain / temperature, negative response to specific sounds, sensitivity to odours or touching certain objects, visual fascination of lights and movement).

Determine the severity of the condition:

The severity of the condition depends on the amount of disability in social communication and the specific and repeated behavioural models.

C. Symptoms must be present from the first developmental period (but they may not be fully apparent until social requirements exceed specific abilities, or may be hidden behind the methods learned in the next life).

Dr. The presence of symptoms that cause clinical disability that is significant in current employment in social, professional or other important aspects.

E. Such disorders are not well explained by mental disability (mental developmental disorder) or overall developmental delay. Synchronisation of autism syndrome disorder and mental disability is often repeated; to make a joint diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and mental disability, social communication should be below the expected amount of general development levels.