Building a Scale for Non-Verbal Communication in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Nineveh Governorate

Researcher used a descriptive method with a survey approach due to its suitability . Sample consisted of 120 children in centers and institutes for individuals with special needs. Construction steps included defining scale's dimensions, preparing initial version of scale, determining method and formulation of items, as well as relying on scientific steps and procedures for building psychological scales, including expert validity and statistical analysis of items using extreme groups and internal consistency methods, in addition to factor analysis of scale items. Statistical methods were limited to mean, standard deviation, T-test, simple correlation, and factor analysis. Researcher developed a non-verbal communication scale for children with autism in Mosul, and based on results of factor analysis, five factors were extracted sequentially: factor of "joint attention" with 6 items, factor of "visual communication" with 6 items, factor of "imitation" with 6 items, factor of "use of gestures" with 6 items, and factor of "understanding facial expressions and vocal tones" with 6 items, distributed across three alternatives (always applies, sometimes applies, rarely applies). Thus, final version of scale consists of 30 items characterized by construct validity. Given these results, researcher recommends to use current scale by researchers in field of special education to measure non-verbal communication in children with autism, and suggests standardizing current scale for children with autism in Iraq.