Identifying Children with Autism in Regular Schools in Resource Limited Settings: A Systematic and Comprehensive Method

ABSTRACT: Autism is the most diagnosed among the autism spectrum disorders. Thus, many educators now are faced with the demands to teach children with autism in their classes. It is imperative that teachers be able to recognize the symptom presentations of children with autism and be aware of a comprehensive and systematic method of identifying them in their classrooms. The aim of this study was to bring out a reliable and systematic method of identifying children with autism in a regular classroom setting. To attain this, different strategies such as review of school records, discussions with teachers and the administration of an anecdotal case history questionnaire to parents of these children were employed to identify these children in nursery schools in Buea. The data was collected using questionnaires and was analysed using simple percentages and arithmetic mean. Results of the study revealed that15 children out of 288 in the age range 3-5 years had autism. There were more male than female children.
KEYWORDS: Autism, Children, Identify, Resource Limited Settings