Prevalence of children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder in Islamabad Capital Territory and Punjab

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) ranges from high to low levels of functioning. Children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) have no intellectual disability and Low Functioning Autism (LFA) have an intellectual disability. It is mandatory to identify the functioning level of children with Autism for successful inclusion. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the prevalence of children with HFASD. The study was descriptive with a survey research design. All the confirmed and diagnosed children with ASD in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Punjab special education institutes were the population and sample of the study. Two versions of the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) developed by Baron-Cohen et al., (2001), AQ Child and Adolescent Versions were used to screen out children with HFA and LFA. The tool was translated into the Urdu language for ease of use in the Pakistani context and validated by the experts. The data was collected in both soft (Google form) and hard form. The findings of the study revealed that 78% of children were found with HFASD in Child Version and 62% with HFA in Adolescent Version. A significant difference was found between the male and female children with ASD in the AQ Child version whereas a significant difference was found in the scores of younger and older children, and the number of years of enrolment in schools in the AQ Adolescent version. Other demographic variables i.e., parental qualification, economic status, number of siblings, and birth orders were not the source of variation either for the Child version or the Adolescent version of AQ