master thesis on autism

Master Thesis Project Fills Gap in Autism Research

By Molly Loughman

As a graduate student in Communication Sciences & Disorders , Kaya LeGrand, MS ’20 spearheaded a research project to help answer one of many questions surrounding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Which features of autistic children’s language are most useful for their adult language ability?

“What is essential there? Is it the ability to combine words? To use specific types of words? To use social language?” LeGrand asks, through her master’s thesis project. “To our knowledge, we are the first people to have looked into this question.”

Now a speech language pathologist, LeGrand reflects back on her final year at Emerson, a tireless pursuit that ultimately shifted her career trajectory toward research and teaching. “I knew I wanted to do something about language and autism because that was clinically what I was becoming more and more interested in throughout the program,” says LeGrand. 

She received inspiration, advice, and research contributions from Associate Professor Rhiannon Luyster and Lisa Wisman Weil , CSD’s senior scholar-in-residence and Undergraduate Program director. The collaborative effort was based out of the Lab for Infant + Toddler Language at Emerson ( LI+TLE ), where researchers study early language and communication in children. Launched in March 2019, the project came to fruition in June 2021 with the publication of “Identifying Childhood Expressive Language Features That Best Predict Adult Language and Communication Outcome in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder ,” co-authored by LeGrand, Luyster, Wisman Weil and UCLA’s Catherine Lord, in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research .  

THE RESEARCH

LeGrand’s project addressed vague findings first reported in the 1950s— that “the presence of useful speech by age five in kids with autism is very important for later language outcomes.” 

“We didn’t know what ‘useful speech’ meant; it wasn’t very well defined initially, and then every researcher who replicated that finding either defined it a different way or also kind of left it vague,” says LeGrand. 

To clarify the field’s understanding, the team examined a longitudinal data set collected by Lord, who has been studying nearly 200 individuals with autism from age 2, starting in the mid-90s until present day. LeGrand studied  hours of footage from a sample of 29 participants, analyzing their noun and verb diversity (the number of different nouns and verbs a child used), the length of spoken sentences, the ability to combine words, and the proportion of speech motivated by social interaction—all to understand which features best predicted adult language.

LeGrand transcribed and coded footage with help from other graduate and undergraduate students. Lord reviewed the final study; Luyster, Wisman-Weil, and LeGrand devised the coding scheme. Wisman-Weil mentored LeGrand on transcribing and language sampling analysis. And as research supervisor, Luyster acted as a sounding board for any of LeGrand’s thesis problems or ideas.

“I really couldn’t have done this without the help of everyone who was involved,” says LeGrand. “ I really respect Lisa and Rhiannon and the whole faculty. I was able to get close to them during the process. They both have done so much amazing research on  language and autism, so it’s very cool to learn from them. And it was also very cool to work with Cathy, one of the foremost researchers in the field.”

THE FINDING: LeGrand found that the number of different verbs produced by children with ASD is the best predictor of adult language outcomes, followed by the length of sentences they form.

“It’s hard to draw strong conclusions just from one study. Basically, we think that verbs are important and it’s also important to use a variety of verbs — not just to have a large vocabulary or combine words,” says LeGrand. “You need a verb to make a sentence, so technically, they are very important for overall language outcomes.” 

LeGrand’s master thesis was completed in April 2020 and submitted for publication that fall. “I really enjoy organizing data, so this worked out for me. I realized that I much prefer doing research compared to clinical work.​​ It was so helpful to have all the lab community support me throughout the project. It was a nice collaborative experience.” 

LeGrand will begin a PhD program at the University of Connecticut this August. She plans to eventually become a professor researching minimally verbal and nonverbal individuals with autism.

“It is a very understudied group. I think it might be challenging to get into given there is not much research done already in that area.” 

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Autism and Social Interaction: A Discursive Psychological Study

In psychological research, autistic people are generally characterised as possessing disordered social cognition and embodiment in comparison to non-autistic people.

Specifically, a deficit in Theory of Mind (the capacity to think about other people’s mental states in order to understand and predict their behaviour) and altered tactile sensation have been proposed as some significant psychological differences present in autism. Autistic people are characterised as experiencing social interactional difficulties that impact social-emotional reciprocity. Examples of such impact include struggling to approach others to interact or to make personal or relevant contributions to an interaction.

While there is a substantial literature on the cognitive properties of autistic individuals compared to non-autistic individuals and how these impact social psychological phenomena, there is considerably less research that analyses autistic people in their own right as social agents in naturally-occurring, everyday settings. As well, there is a challenge to the ideology behind deficit-oriented frameworks of autism in the form of the neurodiversity movement. This thesis draws on ethnomethodology, discursive psychology, and conversation analysis to contribute to both the naturalistic study of autistic people in social interaction and the development of positive, competence-oriented, and ecological approaches to autism. This will be achieved by analysing the social action, as produced in talk and with the body, of autistic children in interaction with their family members in their homes.

Ten hours of video recordings were collected in the homes of four volunteer families with at least one autistic child member. Recordings were made by the families themselves of the mundane domestic activities they engaged in, including episodes of cooking and mealtimes, members playing together, preparing for school, and discussing the day’s activities. After detailed transcription, instances of the children providing accounts for their own behaviour and embraces (or resistance to them) were collected for and became the focus of detailed analysis. An extended sequence constituting a common parenting activity (directing a child to do something) was also selected. This research takes the domains of Theory of Mind and tactile sensation that are prominent within psychological research on autism and treats them as social interactional accomplishments.

The first empirical chapter examines how children accounted for their own behaviour.

It found that the children’s accounts were oriented toward the displayed expectancies and characterisations of the child and their conduct either in responding to first pair parts (e.g., resisting suggestions with an embedded presumption of the child’s knowledge), or in launching their own first action (e.g., requesting more food). These accounts constitute concern for how the children’s interactants could, or do, treat them in response to their behaviour, accomplishing Theory of Mind embedded in their everyday action.

With respect to tactile sensation, the second empirical chapter analyses embraces.

Embraces occurred within and between a variety of other activities. Analyses showed how both children and parents initiated embraces and many were accomplished as non-problematic by the children. Participants arranged their bodies such that the embrace was coordinated with the talk and ongoing action, and utilised both verbal and embodied resources to initiate and terminate. Children prioritised their ongoing actions, treating some embraces or embrace initiations as interruptive by avoiding, escaping or otherwise misaligning with them.

The third empirical chapter demonstrates how one family’s extended sequence of action directing their child to use the bathroom before bedtime was comprised of a variety of different relational activities. In the process of managing the larger project of the directive, parent and child negotiated complex elements of their relationship including issues of power and responsibility, shared knowledge and experiences, and expectations of group membership.

This thesis offers a critical perspective on the conceptualisation of autism in psychology. It grounds this alternative view of autism based on an empirical analysis of how the autistic children and their family members in the interactions analysed manage complex social psychological matters in the production of their social action. It expands upon discursive psychological research on the accomplishment of social cognition as action produced within talk-in-interaction. It also exemplifies a direction a neurodiversity-sensitive psychology of social action could take and identifies ways that this can be further developed.

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The Impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder on Parents in Arab Countries: A Systematic Literature Review

Jamal m. alkhateeb.

1 Department of Special Education, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan

Muna S. Hadidi

Wissam mounzer.

2 Department of Special Education, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Associated Data

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author/s.

Having a child with autism spectrum disorder can have significant psychological effects on parents. This systematic review summarizes the current state of literature underscoring the impact of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on parents in Arab countries

A systematic search of seven databases (PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, Google Scholar, ERIC, Academic Search Complete, and PsycINFO) was performed, which identified 24 studies (20 quantitative studies and four qualitative studies) that included 3,299 parents or caregivers of children with ASD. These studies were conducted in 10 Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Emirates, Palestine, Qatar, and Lebanon).

The majority of the included studies found that ASD has a significant negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of Arab parents. It was found that parents of children with ASD have a poor quality of life (QoL) and an increased risk of psychological disorders. These findings were in contrast to findings of parents of typically developing children and children with other developmental disorders. Challenges faced by parents of children with ASD were associated with several child- and parent-related factors. The most common coping strategy used by parents was religious coping.

The impact of ASD on parents has only recently gained traction among researchers in Arab countries. Despite several knowledge gaps, published studies have provided useful information outlining the impact of ASD on parents in some of these countries. Further research comprising larger random samples and using varied research and data-collection methods is required to understand the multifaceted challenges experienced by parents raising children with ASD in Arab countries.

Introduction

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder that intersects racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic boundaries, and is characterized by persistent impairments in social interactions, verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interest, or activities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). Over the past three decades, there has been a global increase in the prevalence of ASD (Elsabbagh et al., 2012 ; Blaxill et al., 2022 ).

Extensive research indicates that parents of children with ASD often experience elevated levels of parenting stress (Hoffman et al., 2009 ), increased mental health problems (Cohrs and Leslie, 2017 ), and reduced physical health (Smith et al., 2012 ; Eisenhower et al., 2013 ) in contrast to parents of typically developing children (Ingersoll and Hambrick, 2011 ; Padden and James, 2017 ), and parents of children diagnosed with other disabilities (Hayes and Watson, 2013 ; Barroso et al., 2018 ). Furthermore, ASD significantly impacts family life as well as the marriage system (Karst and Van Hecke, 2012 ; Serrata, 2012 ; Pisula and Porebowicz-Dörsmann, 2017 ).

Increasing evidence suggests that the impact of ASD on parents may be attributed to the severity of the emotional and behavioral problems exhibited by the child (Leyfer et al., 2006 ; Baker et al., 2012 ; Karst and Van Hecke, 2012 ). Furthermore, this is exacerbated by exhaustive caregiving demands, poor parental coping capabilities, lack of support (Weiss et al., 2014 ; Papadopoulos, 2021 ), economic burden (Ou et al., 2015 ), as well as the perception and understanding of ASD among parents (Ilias et al., 2018 ).

The literature also suggests that cultural background is an important variable to consider when analyzing the impact of ASD on parents (Ilias et al., 2018 ; Zakirova-Engstrand et al., 2020 ). Parents' awareness and beliefs about the etiology and prognosis of ASD can affect parental responses, coping strategies, as well as treatment decision-making (Hebert and Koulouglioti, 2010 ; Zuckerman et al., 2016 ; Brewton et al., 2021 ).

The majority of ASD research has been conducted across the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) (Clark and Adams, 2020 ; Roche et al., 2021 ), in contrast to other parts of the world where research on ASD is relatively limited (Samadi and McConkey, 2011 ; Rice et al., 2012 ). In Arab countries, ASD is a new field of research that has gradually evolved in the past two decades. However, severe information disparities with regards to the different aspects of ASD have been noted, namely, epidemiology, characteristics, burden, as well as support available to children and families.

To date, four literature reviews have been published on ASD research in Arab countries (Hussein and Taha, 2013 ; Salhia et al., 2014 ; Alnemary et al., 2017 ; Alallawi et al., 2020 ). Alallawi et al. ( 2020 ) conducted a systematic scoping review of social, educational, and psychological research relevant to persons with ASD and their families in Arab countries. Using eight databases, Alallawi et al. ( 2020 ) identified 70 studies published predominantly by researchers from Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Most of the identified studies investigated the prevalence of ASD; diagnosis issues; the experiences and outcomes of Arab caregivers for individuals with ASD; as well as the social and communication behavior of Arab individuals with ASD. The results of the scoping review revealed significant gaps in research related to ASD interventions and services. Furthermore, upon appraisal of the identified studies, the authors found them to be of low quality.

Alnemary et al. ( 2017 ) reviewed published research on ASD in the Arab world from 1992 to 2014. The authors searched for studies published in English using PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases. In total, the authors identified 142 publications that were produced mostly by researchers in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Oman. For the most part, these publications addressed the biology, risk factors, and diagnosis of ASD. However, limited studies investigated intervention, services, infrastructure and surveillance, or life span issues related to ASD.

Hussein and Taha ( 2013 ) analyzed published literature on ASD in the Arab world from 1992 to 2012 using the Medline database. In total, 79 articles were identified that focused predominantly on the etiology of ASD as opposed to services and interventions.

Finally, Salhia et al. ( 2014 ) conducted a systemic review of the epidemiology of ASD in Arab Gulf countries, namely, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, and Bahrain. The literature search was conducted using PubMed and ScienceDirect databases. However, limited studies investigating the epidemiology of ASD were identified by the authors. Those studies showed a prevalence rate ranging from 1.4 to 29 per 10,000 persons. Furthermore, no studies explored the burden of ASD on the child, family, or society.

Due to the limited scientific evidence available on challenges faced by parents raising children with ASD in Arab countries (Alnemary et al., 2017 ; Al Khateeb et al., 2019 ; Alallawi et al., 2020 ), the current systematic literature review was undertaken. This review aimed to address this crucial knowledge gap in ASD research by locating and synthesizing all studies underscoring the impact of ASD on parents in Arab countries.

Search Strategy

Studies investigating the impact of ASD on parents in Arab countries were reviewed and analyzed. To identify the relevant literature, seven databases were searched, namely, PubMed, Google Scholar, ERIC, CINAHL, Education Research Complete, Springer Link, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. The review was conducted and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA; Moher et al., 2009 ). Three sets of search terms were used in the initial search, namely, “Autism” OR “ASD” OR “Asperger” OR “Pervasive Developmental Disorders” AND “parents” OR “mothers” OR “fathers” OR “stress” OR “well-being” OR “mental health problems” AND “Arab countries” OR “Algeria” OR “Egypt” OR “Libya” OR “Tunisia” OR “Morocco” OR “Mauritania” OR “Sudan” OR “Somalia” OR “Djibouti” OR “Bahrain” OR “Emirates” OR “Oman” OR “Kuwait” OR “Qatar” OR “Saudi” OR “Yemen” OR “Jordan” OR “Syria” OR “Iraq” OR “Lebanon” OR “Comoros” OR “Palestine.” Furthermore, the key concept of ASD was searched using the term “Arab countries OR Arab World” to identify studies that might have been omitted. Finally, the reference lists of the studies included in the review were scanned for additional studies.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

This review included studies that were: empirical, conducted in an Arab country, related to ASD impact on parents, published in English, and published in a peer-reviewed journal. Literature reviews, doctoral dissertations or master theses, conference papers, chapters, and theoretical articles were excluded. Publication dates were not restricted to ensure all possibly relevant articles were included.

Study Selection

Figure 1 presents a flowchart of the process used to identify and select relevant studies. The database and keyword search listed above yielded 714 studies. Eighty-eight articles were excluded due to duplication across the databases. Upon screening the titles for eligibility, 572 articles were excluded. Furthermore, seven articles were excluded after reading the abstracts. After assessing the full texts of the remaining 47 articles, 22 articles were excluded. These articles were excluded because 10 of them were not empirical studies, six were review articles, three articles were not available in full text and five articles were not primary studies. A manual search of reference lists of the identified articles resulted in the identification of two additional studies. Therefore, the final sample included 24 studies.

PRISMA flow chart of the study identification process.

Charting the Data

The authors developed a coding form to assist with the data extraction. The coding form comprised sections designed to obtain information regarding the author(s), publication year, country, purpose, methods, and key findings. Thereafter, the first author used this chart to extract data from the included articles. The second author independently extracted data for 29% ( n = 10) of the included articles. Disagreements among the authors were resolved through discussion. Finally, the information was analyzed to identify themes and gaps in the literature and to suggest implications for future research and practice.

Description of the Included Studies

Table 1 summarizes the study design, sample, main objectives, methods, and key findings of the 24 included publications. The studies underscoring the impact of ASD on parents in the Arab world were conducted in 10 countries. Among these publications, six were from Saudi Arabia, six were from Jordan, three were from Egypt, two were from Kuwait, two were from Bahrain, and one study was from Oman, Emirates, Palestine, Qatar, and Lebanon. The remaining Arab countries, namely, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, or Comoros, did not have any published articles.

Overview of the included studies ( n = 24).

Twenty publications (84%) were quantitative studies, which were mostly cross-sectional, while four publications (16%) were qualitative studies. The samples used in eight of the studies included only mothers (Obeid and Daou, 2015 ; Al-Kandari et al., 2017 ; Al-Ansari and Jahrami, 2018 ; Gobrial, 2018 ; Al Ansari et al., 2021 ; El-Monshed and Amr, 2021 ; Shattnawi et al., 2021 ; Lamba et al., 2022 ), while one study (Ahmad and Dardas, 2015 ) included only fathers.

Data Collection Tools

This review employed 19 different data collection tools including the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL-BREF), the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the 36-Item Short Form Survey (SE-36), the Brief Version of the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory (Brief -COPE), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Oberst Caregiver Burden Scale time and difficulty subscales (OCBS-T and OCBS-D), Bakas Caregiving Outcome Scale (OCBS), Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI-12), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ)-9, Parenting Stress Index—Short Form (PSI—SF), Ways of Coping Checklist-Revised (WCC-R), Beck's Depression Inventory (BDI), the Standard Recall Short Form 36 (SF-36 v2), Family Stress and Coping Interview-Adapted Scale (FSCI-A), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and the Positive Reappraisal Coping (PRC) Subscale of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ).

The included studies were all published in the past 10 years and most of these studies ( n = 16, 67%) were conducted between 2017 and 2021.

Participants in the Included Studies

In total, 3,299 parents or caregivers, namely, 2,415 parents or caregivers of children with ASD and 884 controls, were included as participants in these studies. The total number of mothers and fathers of children with ASD was 813 and 327, respectively. Eleven studies comprising 1,275 parents or caregivers of children with ASD did not specify the gender of the parent and referred only to the term “parents” (Kheir et al., 2012 ; Almansour et al., 2013 ; Fido and Al Saad, 2013 ; Al-Farsi et al., 2016 ; and Rayan and Ahmad, 2017 ; Al-qahtani, 2018 ; Alnazly and Abojedi, 2019 ; Alshekaili et al., 2019 ; Amireh, 2019 ; Alenazi et al., 2020 ; Khusaifan and El Keshky, 2021 ). All the studies used non-probability sampling methods (i.e., convenience samples, purposefully selected samples, snowball samples, and voluntary samples) except for one study which used a probability sample (a systematic random sample; Alshekaili et al., 2019 ).

Impact of ASD on Parents

Data from studies included in this review revealed that parents raising children with ASD in Arab countries experience considerable stress and strain. Nine studies reported high levels of parental stress (Dababnah and Parish, 2013 ; Dardas and Ahmad, 2014 ; Ahmad and Dardas, 2015 ; Al-Farsi et al., 2016 ; Rayan and Ahmad, 2017 ; Amireh, 2019 ; Al Ansari et al., 2021 ; El-Monshed and Amr, 2021 ; Khusaifan and El Keshky, 2021 ). Furthermore, depression symptoms were reported among parents in nine studies (Almansour et al., 2013 ; Dababnah and Parish, 2013 ; Fido and Al Saad, 2013 ; Al-Farsi et al., 2016 ; Rayan and Ahmad, 2017 ; Alnazly and Abojedi, 2019 ; Al Ansari et al., 2021 ; Alshahrani and Algashmari, 2021 ). Anxiety was experienced by parents in six studies (Almansour et al., 2013 ; Al-Farsi et al., 2016 ; Rayan and Ahmad, 2017 ; Alnazly and Abojedi, 2019 ; Al Ansari et al., 2021 ). Decreased QoL of parents was found in five studies (Kheir et al., 2012 ; Dardas and Ahmad, 2014 ; Ahmad and Dardas, 2015 ; Alenazi et al., 2020 ). Physical health problems were reported in two studies (Al-qahtani, 2018 ; Shattnawi et al., 2021 ). Five studies reported social burden among parents of children with ASD (Al-qahtani, 2018 ; Gobrial, 2018 ; Alenazi et al., 2020 ; Al-Masa'deh et al., 2020 ; Shattnawi et al., 2021 ), while four studies reported psychological burden (Dababnah and Parish, 2013 ; Al-Ansari and Jahrami, 2018 ; Al-qahtani, 2018 ; Shattnawi et al., 2021 ). Parents of children with ASD reported financial burden in three of the studies (Dababnah and Parish, 2013 ; Al-qahtani, 2018 ; Shattnawi et al., 2021 ).

Parents of Children With and Without ASD

In six studies, parents raising children with ASD were compared with parents raising children with other disabilities and children without any disabilities (Fido and Al Saad, 2013 ; Obeid and Daou, 2015 ; Al-Farsi et al., 2016 ; Al-Ansari and Jahrami, 2018 ; Amireh, 2019 ; Al Ansari et al., 2021 ). These studies were conducted in six Arab countries, namely, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, and Lebanon. The majority of these studies found that parents of children with ASD experienced higher levels of stress, reduced wellbeing, and other psychological difficulties compared to the controls. One study found that there were no significant differences between parents of children with ASD and controls in QoL or physical health (Al-Ansari and Jahrami, 2018 ). Furthermore, Fido and Al Saad ( 2013 ) found no significant differences in psychological distress between fathers of children with ASD and fathers of typically developing children. Only four studies made a comparison in parental stress among mothers and fathers of children with ASD. In two studies, no significant differences were found between the fathers and mothers of children with ASD in terms of depressive symptoms (Alshahrani and Algashmari, 2021 ), or physical, psychological, and social wellbeing (Dardas and Ahmad, 2014 ). However, two other studies reported that mothers experienced significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms (Al-Farsi et al., 2016 ) and impaired QOL in contrast to fathers (Alenazi et al., 2020 ).

Factors Associated With the Impact of ASD on Parents

Factors associated with psychological disorders and the burden experienced by parents of children with ASD were explored in some of the studies. These studies found that several factors were associated with the impact of ASD on parents, including the severity of ASD, social support, economic status, maternal education, financial hardship, marital status, parental age, and the gender of the child (Al-Kandari et al., 2017 ; Alnazly and Abojedi, 2019 ; Alshekaili et al., 2019 ; Al-Masa'deh et al., 2020 ; Alshahrani and Algashmari, 2021 ; Khusaifan and El Keshky, 2021 ).

Coping Strategies of Parents of Children With ASD

Limited studies have investigated coping strategies used by parents raising children with ASD in Arab countries. Religious coping was the most common coping strategy found in some of these studies (Dababnah and Parish, 2013 ; Al-Kandari et al., 2017 ; Amireh, 2019 ; Khusaifan and El Keshky, 2021 ). Other strategies used were acceptance, positive reframing, withdrawal from the community, denial of the ASD diagnosis, increasing social interactions, and accessing information.

Resilience in Parents of Children With ASD

Only two studies examined the psychological resilience of parents. Dababnah and Parish ( 2013 ) reported that Palestinian parents in the West Bank demonstrated remarkable resilience in raising children with ASD. Furthermore, Alshahrani and Algashmari ( 2021 ) found high levels of resilience among parents and caregivers of children with ASD in Saudi Arabia.

This systematic review was conducted to identify studies that addressed the impact of ASD on parents in Arab countries. The included studies were reviewed in terms of participants, general characteristics, methodology used, and the main findings. This review found that the impact of ASD on parents and caregivers has only recently gained traction among researchers in some Arab countries. Approximately 80% of the studies included in this review were conducted in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Most of these studies used cross-sectional study designs and included non-random samples. Furthermore, the study participants of the included studies comprised more mothers than fathers. Moreover, most of the included studies did not distinguish between the different subtypes of ASD.

The majority of studies found that ASD has a significant negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of Arab parents. This finding is consistent with previous studies conducted in several countries, suggesting that parents of children with ASD experience significant levels of stress, depression, and anxiety (Loukisas and Papoudi, 2016 ; Reddy et al., 2019 ; Papadopoulos, 2021 ). Consistent with previous research, this review also showed that parents of children with ASD in Arab countries have poorer QoL (Lee et al., 2008 ; Vasilopoulou and Nisbet, 2016 ). Thus, parents of children with ASD face an increased risk of developing psychological disorders in contrast to parents of both typically developing children and children with other developmental disorders (Karst and Van Hecke, 2012 ; Schnabel et al., 2020 ; Papadopoulos, 2021 ). In addition, several studies found that these parents reported a high caregiver burden (e.g., Estes et al., 2013 ; Picardi et al., 2018 ).

Studies exploring the factors associated with stress in parents and caregivers of children with ASD are limited in Arab countries. These factors include the severity of ASD, social support, economic status, maternal education, financial hardship, marital status, parental age, and the gender of the child. Overall, these results are consistent with literature indicating a relationship between the impact of ASD on parents and various characteristics among the child and extended family (Karst and Van Hecke, 2012 ; Rivard et al., 2014 ; Iadarola et al., 2019 ).

Furthermore, studies addressing the coping strategies used by parents raising children with ASD are even more limited in Arab countries. Although limited, these studies found that the most common coping strategy used by parents was religious coping followed by acceptance, positive reframing, withdrawal from the community, denial of the ASD diagnosis, increasing social interactions, and accessing information. Moreover, two studies found high levels of resilience in parents and caregivers. However, since the studies are limited, these results should be interpreted with caution. Moreover, most of the studies used self-report questionnaires and lacked a qualitative measurement. As a result, socially desirable responses may have been provided by the parents and caregivers, underscoring the limitations of the data collection methods used.

The findings of this systematic review have several important implications for future research in Arab countries. Parents that have a child with ASD are severely impacted (Picardi et al., 2018 ). Despite the evidence provided by published studies about the impact of ASD on parents in Arab countries, there are still several knowledge gaps. For example, studies identified in this review provided minimal or no information about the impact of ASD on parental self-efficacy, physical health problems, marital relationships, or family socialization.

Furthermore, further research is required to underscore the difference in the experience of the burden associated with raising a child with ASD between mothers and fathers. While several studies have indicated that mothers of children with ASD suffer from increased levels of mental health challenges and burdens compared to fathers, some studies have yielded mixed results (Picardi et al., 2018 ; Al Khateeb et al., 2019 ; Rudelli et al., 2021 ). Thus, further research is required to enhance the understanding of the different challenges experienced by parents raising children with ASD in Arab countries, particularly qualitative studies (Leko et al., 2021 ).

Moreover, the majority of the studies included in this review used small non-random samples based on a limited number of countries. Consequently, this limited the generalizability of the findings to all parents in the Arab region. Thus, future research including larger random samples is required.

Limitations

Several limitations should be considered when interpreting the findings of the current review. First, only studies published in English in peer-reviewed journals were included in this review. The researchers excluded literature published in the Arabic language due to the severe lack of Arabic electronic databases. Furthermore, conducting a comprehensive manual search would have been a formidable task (Alkhateeb and Alhadidi, 2019 ). As a result, the included studies may not be representative of all the evidence (Morrison et al., 2012 ). Second, narrow search parameters were applied resulting in the exclusion of other potential sources of information such as conference papers and theses or dissertations that could uncover other relevant literature. Third, this review did not include a critical appraisal of the identified studies. Although the review was confined to studies published in peer-reviewed journals (71% of which had an Impact Factor >1.0), this does not necessarily guarantee the methodological quality of reviewed studies. Therefore, some of the included studies may be of low quality, warranting further research. Despite these limitations, this systematic review facilitates the understanding of the impact of ASD on parents in Arab countries.

This systematic review summarized the results of studies underscoring the impact of ASD on parents in Arab countries. Twenty-four studies met inclusion criteria and most of the included studies were quantitative studies that were conducted within the last 5 years in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Furthermore, most of the identified studies found that ASD has a significant negative impact on the mental health and wellbeing of Arab parents. Moreover, significant gaps were found in the evidence base, including research on coping strategies and interventions aimed at reducing stress and burden among parents and caregivers. However, this review contributes valuable insights for future studies on parents of children with ASD in Arab countries.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

JA conceptualized the manuscript and research questions, performed the initial article search, and reviewed all articles identified during the search. MH and WM participated in the acquisition of data, analysis, and manuscript drafting. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Editage ( www.editage.com ) for English language editing.

* Studies that were included in this review

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100 Autism Research Paper Topics

Careful selection of autism research paper topics is very important. That’s because there are many autism topics that students can research and write about. The topic that a learner chooses dictates the direction that their research and writing process will take. As such, students should select their topic ideas based on their academic goals. Ideally, what a learner opts to write about should help them accomplish their study goals.

Autism can be defined as a spectral disorder that makes a child seem to have a world of their own. Many parents misinterpret this disorder and assume that the child does not notice them. However, this is usually not the case. Parents are the first people to notice this disorder. With more children being diagnosed with this disorder, educators are asking learners to write about autism essay topics.

If you’ve been asked to write about this subject, take your time to research this disorder. You can even read the autobiographies of autistic people. If possible, meet and interact with autistic people before you start writing. This will give you an idea of what this condition is all about. Our psychology topics may also come in handy. In most cases, you will be required to focus your paper or essay on the creation of more autism awareness. This article highlights some of the topics in autism that you can consider for your paper or essay.

Basic Autism Research Paper Topics

Autism is a broad research area. Researchers have delved into this field and came up with different findings. However, you can still pick a topic for your research in this field and come up with new information. Here are some of the most interesting research topics in autism that can form the basis of your academic paper or essay.

• Why some people autistic and others are not?
• Does being autistic have advantages?
• Why is being autistic disadvantageous?
• Some people have a good memory or recall skills, explain why
• Facts that people should know about autism
• Explain the chemical brain differences between autistic and non-autistic individuals
• Discuss some of major breakthroughs in autism research
• Why do people with autism have difficulty socializing with others?
• What can normal people learn from autistic people’s brains?
• What characteristics should a person with autism have?
• How should an autistic person be trained during care provision?
• What should caregivers understand about autism to do their job right?
• Explain the behavior of autistic individuals towards family members
• Provide an average autistic individual’s overview
• How can the social interactions of autistic people be improved?
• Explain what causes autism
• What educational programs do autistic people have?
• How to diagnose autism in the early stages
• Explain the role of music in an autistic person’s life
• Is there a treatment for reducing autistic people’s disadvantages?
• What are the employment limitations and opportunities for autistic people?
• Discuss the major stories about autism that have been shared in the media
• What is yet to be discovered about autism?
• Explain how healthcare workers can help autistic individuals go through their daily life
• Describe the top 5 autistic individuals that are best known in history

These are some of the most interesting autism topics for research paper or essay. However, you should research them extensively before you start writing. That’s because each of these topics requires you to include verifiable facts in your paper or essay.

Strong Autism Dissertation Topics

With so many children being diagnosed with autism, more learners are writing dissertations on this subject. And there are many autism research topics from which a learner can choose. Here are some of the best autism thesis topics to consider.

• Is there evidence to prove that environmental triggers are responsible for rising autism cases?
• Explain the relationship between stimming self-regulator for anxiety and autism
• Why is autism prevalence in western society greater?
• How is autism related to mental health?
• How can family doctors be supported to take care of autistic people?
• Discuss autism and childhood immunization
• Discuss some of the prominent individuals in history that were most likely autistic
• How can autistic people be supported at the workplace?
• How do autistic females differ from autistic males?
• Can autistic children adapt to mainstream education?
• What are the positives and negatives of special education for autistic children?
• Should autistic children attend special schools?
• Why do people consider autism a spectrum disorder?
• What diagnostic changes have raised the concern that Asperger’s Syndrome might no longer exist
• Does lifestyle play a role in autism?

Some of these topics on autism may seem complex to research and write about. However, you can find relevant and sufficient supporting evidence from different sources. You just need the time and resources required to write about any of these topics about autism.

Autism Parent Training Topics

Raising an autistic child is not easy. Parents and caregivers should learn about autism spectrum disorder and its effects on their children. They should also learn how this disorder affects the entire family. It’s for this reason that researchers focus on research topics in autism that educate parents and caregivers about taking care of autistic children. Here are some of the best autism social learning topics.

• How to manage the parenting challenges for people with autistic children
• How to enhance the communication skills of autistic children
• How to enhance the coping skills of autistic children
• How to address the negative behaviors of autistic children
• How to increase the play skills of autistic children
• How to diagnose autism early in children
• How to increase the independence of autistic children
• How to improve self-help in autistic children
• How does autism in one child affect the other family members?
• How to solve the daily problems of autistic children

Each of these topics is meant to produce a paper or essay that can help parents of autistic children cope with the disorder. The information can also help the parents make their children lead a better life despite their condition.

Paper Topics about Autism and Education

Since it’s a complex disorder that affects brain development, autism touches on education as well. Here are some of the good research paper topics on autism and education that you can write about.

• Why is autism worth researching?
• Discuss the causes of autism
• Discuss the development realms that are affected by autism
• What resources do autistic people have access to?
• Explain how autistic children learn
• Explain how autism affects the learning process
• Explain the struggles of autistic students
• Explain parent training autism
• Discuss the major types of autism
• How does learning differ between autistic and normal students?

These topics focus on the relationship between autism and learning or education. Just like the topics in the other categories, they require extensive research to write about too.

Autism Research Proposal Topics

A lot of information about autism is being discussed by researchers across the world. This makes it hard for some learners to pick proposal topics for their autism papers. Here are some of the topics to consider if struggling to pick your proposal topic.

• What is autism therapy?
• Is autism therapy helpful?
• How should caregivers provide care to autistic persons?
• What is the best way to work for an autistic person?
• Working with an autistic person- What are the major challenges?
• How do you cope with an autistic family member?
• How should autistic people be treated in social places?
• What limitations do autistic people have in modern society?
• Is the current society considerate of autistic people?
• How does modern technology benefit autistic people?

If you pick a research topic on autism from this category, take the time to research it extensively to write a brilliant paper or essay.

Thought-Provoking Autism Debate Topics

Perhaps, you want to write a paper or essay that can form the basis of a debate about autism. In that case, consider one of these topics.

• How celebrities and pseudo-scientists have caused serious damage by claiming that autism is related to vaccinations
• How to educate society about autism
• How to change the future of autistic children with early interventions
• How school officials can help autistic children
• How to help autistic kids whose parents are uncooperative or in denial
• How autistic children can benefit from occupational therapy
• Discuss the DSM-V regarding autism
• How educational opportunities for autistic children compare to those of normal children
• How health officials can convince the public that shots don’t cause autism
• Should children that have not been vaccinated because parents believe that vaccines cause autism be taken to school?
• How to support siblings of an individual with autism
• How to transition a person with autism to community-based services from school-based services.
• How to fight for autistic people’s rights
• How to deal with the psychological struggles of autistic children
• How music affects autistic patients
• Social organizations for autistic people
• Why diagnosing autism early is important
• Can autism be prevented?
• How to interact with autistic people
• What employment options do autistic people have?
• How to manage autism in adults
• A brief history of autism
• How living with an autistic person can affect your life
• How genetics affect autism
• Can the environment cause autism?
• Can medical treatment cause autism?
• A review of autism in different countries
• A review of autism in different cultures
• What signs of autism should parents watch out for?
• How to develop a treatment plan for autism

This category has controversial topics autism researchers can explore too. Nevertheless, whether you choose parenting or autism biology topics for research paper, take the time to research extensively before you start writing. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you need thesis writing help .

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Master's Thesis: Instructional Programs and Service Delivery for Students with Autism and Intellectual Disabilities in Senegal

This study looked at the instructional practices and support services meant to provide children on the autism spectrum and other intellectual disabilities in Senegal with the appropriate education and training that allow them to achieve their full potential and their right to high-quality education. An explanatory sequential mixed method was used, including a survey and a multiple case study to investigate the implemented teaching practices from 22 participants of 5 selected schools in Dakar (three special schools and two inclusive ones), the leading factors underpinning the implementation of such practices, and the effects they have on students’ academic achievement and adaptive behavior. Using questionnaires and interview guide to collect the data, the researcher found a total of 11 instructional practices encompassed by four widely recognized educational programs (ABA, TEACCH, PECS, and Makaton) and deemed as evidence-based by the literature, were said to be implemented by the study participants. Such practices, coupled with some support therapy-based services, were said to be a function of four leading factors that make them subject to implementation. On the other hand, the findings revealed that most teachers had a poor and very limited mastery and control of the current autism-specific educational strategies, with regard to the discrepancy between what they theoretically learned from pre-service training and the practical skills needed for implementation. On the basis of such results and findings of the study, it can be concluded that many challenges facing the education sector need to be addressed to reach the objective of high-quality education. Therefore, investing on innovative research on the current evidence-based practices is needed to empower education providers to find more effective strategies. Furthermore, an effective collaboration between schools and other professionals, as well as the local communities, is more likely to be among the best practices to achieve a high-quality and inclusive education in Senegalese schools.

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The paper sought to determine the perceptions Colleges of Education tutors hold on how the current curriculum helps pre-service teachers to collaborate with other professionals and parents to manage children with special educational needs and disabilities for effective inclusive education in Ghana. A descriptive survey design was adopted using a sample of 235 tutors from 13 public Colleges of Education in Ghana. The lottery method was used to select four out of the sixteen regions in Ghana and the purposive sampling technique was used to select all the Colleges within the four regions, while convenience sampling technique was used to select the actual respondents for the study. Questionnaire was used to gather the research data. Percentages and frequencies were used as statistical tools to analyse the data. The findings revealed that pre-service teachers had difficulties collaborating with other professionals and parents in managing children with special educational needs and disabilities in the inclusive classroom. It was therefore, recommended that measures that could help pre-service teachers to effectively and efficiently collaborate with parents and other professionals should be put in place.

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Inclusive Education provides a secure learning environment for disabled students. Inclusive education is a pressing issue. In a country like Morocco, where there has been a population growth, inclusive education plays an important role. Children with autism are prevalent in Morocco. Motivating children to learn and educate is a significant problem for us. As a result, we must enhance the educational system. We must prepare and educate our teachers for the upcoming difficulties of inclusive education. When children with and without disabilities participate and study in the same courses, this is referred to as inclusive education. According to research, when a disabled child attends courses with classmates who do not have disabilities, positive things happen. Inclusion is about giving children the support they need to learn and engage in meaningful ways. Help from friends or teachers may be quite beneficial at times. In recent decades, the inclusion of students with special educational needs in these institutions has been the topic of continuing research and discussion. The notion of inclusion is concerned with the provision of education throughout the student environment. As a result, the study's goal is to investigate the integration of autistic children into regular school classes. More particularly, the role of teaching assistants in the integration of students with Autism will be investigated. The case involved two female teaching assistants, with their experience of incorporating children with autism in inclusive schools being a consideration. To examine these perspectives, a qualitative method was employed, with class observation, interviews, and reporting serving as data collecting tools. The findings of the study suggest that teachers have an important role in the inclusion of children with autism in Laval inclusive school. They think that inclusion in an inclusive school will benefit them not just in terms of socializing but also in terms of learning.

The Government of Kenya in its effort to provide education for all, regardless of ethnicity, gender, family background or physical abilities, initiated Special Units to cater for the educational needs of Children with Special Needs in a less restrictive environment through integration program. The program was to provide appropriate curriculum modification, teaching methods, education resource and learning environment so as to enhance access, retention, completion, transition and creation of awareness for the children with special needs. This paper examines the nature of training and orientation given to teachers in relation to the Special Needs Education, and the types of educational resources available for Special Needs Education based on a study of schools in Kakamega District. The study adopted descriptive survey research design and Psacharopoulos' Production Function Model. The population consisted of 753 Children with Special Needs, 1000 ordinary pupils in class seven, 82 teachers of children with Special Needs and 56 heads of schools. A systematic random sampling technique was used to pick 26 Special Needs Education teachers; 13 head-teachers of schools with Special Units and 300 ordinary pupils. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 13 schools with Special Units while Cluster sampling technique was used to draw 230 Children with Special Needs for the study. For the purpose of data collection, questionnaires were used for teachers and ordinary pupils. Interview schedules were also used to collect data from head-teachers and children with special needs while observation schedule was used to supplement the information received from questionnaires and interview schedules. Qualitative data was received in verbatim, transcribed and put into various categories and then presented in themes. Quantitative data was

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