Inclusion of an Autistic Child in Kindergarten Facility: A Case Study

This study aimed to investigate the effects of inclusion of an autistic child, at entranceage of four years and seven months, into the Child Care Center of the Sultan QaboosUniversity. The study was designed to specifically answer: (1) Which domains of the ASDAscale did „Ahmad‟ show notable improvement? (2) Which areas of the academic program did„Ahmad‟ show notable improvement? The program at the Center is a bilingual mainstreamprogram in Arabic and English. It is a highly structured and individualized program whichcovers all of the developmental domains. It caters for two groups of mixed age children froma variety of ethnic backgrounds. The study used the Arabic Scale for Detecting Autism –ASDA (Al Qaryouti Ababneh, 2006) along with an entrance test and parent interview. Theresult of this assessment indicated that the subject of this study had autism. After six months,a further application of the scale showed that significant improvement had occurred, particularlyin the communication and social interaction domains. Concurrently, the subject mademarked progress in his academic studies, notably in the areas of math and language. A furtherapplication of the scale a year after the second indicated that the lack of severity of symptomsno longer warranted the autistic label. Inclusion of autistic children in a normal settingcan have a positive impact on both social behavior and academic skills, if a well-structuredprogram and a controlled learning environment in the setting of adequately training teachersisapplied.