إستخدام استراتيجية الشخصية الإعتبارية أفاتار في إكساب مهارة إدراك الوجوه للأطفال ذوي اضطرابات التوحد
Autism is a genetically neurodevelopmental disorder that is usually diagnosed before three years of age, lasted throughout individual`s life, and characterized by severe and permanent deficits in many interpersonal areas like face recognition. This study aims at acquiring face recognition skill to children with autism through developing and implementing a training program based on avatar strategy. It examined the effectiveness of avatar on achieving such an aim, and the continuity of its effect after the program has ended and throughout the follow- up period. Participants were 10 children with autism from Zagazig city, Egypt aged 4- 6 years old. They were divided into two equal and matched groups i.e. experimental and control. Experimental method was used, and the tools used were Stanford- Binet intelligence test, scale for children with autism, autism treatment evaluation checklist ATEC, face recognition inventory, and the training program based on avatar. Results revealed the effectiveness of avatar on acquiring face recognition to children with autism, and its effects lasted throughout the follow- up period. It was concluded that avatar could be used to modify behavior of children with autism in general. (Published abstract)