Numerous studies suggest that children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) encounter language problems related to syntax. In particular, these children face difficulties in comprehending and answering complex language structures in Arabic.

This paper examines whether a prototype Arabic assistive application can have an impact on the ability of children with ASD to comprehend and answer content questions and on their communicative skills. Via two questionnaires targeting 57 caregivers and ASD specialists in Jordan and a focus-group discussion with three teachers working in three autism centers in Jordan, a prototype assistive application named Aseel was created. To test the effect of using this app on enhancing ASD children’s ability to comprehend and answer Arabic questions, a sample consisting of two groups of children: 20 verbal and 5 nonverbal children with ASD enrolled in three autism centers in Amman, Jordan was recruited. A pre-test containing 55 content questions was designed and tested on the two groups. Then, a treatment for three weeks took place in which the teachers trained the children on answering these questions using the app. A post-test was conducted after a three-day break to test whether the app affected the ability of verbal and nonverbal children with ASD to comprehend and answer the questions accurately. The data analysis revealed that the differences between the answers of the two groups in the pre- and post-tests were statistically significant. This suggests that this technology has the potential to aid both verbal and nonverbal children with ASD in effectively learning complex Arabic content questions. This assistive application enhances collaboration between teacher and children with ASD, visual-spatial thinking and communication with others. Another advantage of this app is increasing ASD children’s vocabulary repertoire. Preliminary results involving nonverbal children showed that the icons which visually and auditorily represent the most basic needs for a person are proving effective in helping this group communicate with their caregivers and teachers.

大量研究表明，患有自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 的儿童会遇到与句法相关的语言问题。特别是，这些孩子在理解和回答复杂的阿拉伯语语言结构方面面临困难。

本文探讨了阿拉伯语辅助应用程序原型是否可以影响自闭症儿童理解和回答内容问题的能力以及他们的沟通技巧。通过针对约旦 57 名护理人员和 ASD 专家的两份问卷调查以及与约旦三个自闭症中心工作的三名教师的焦点小组讨论，创建了一个名为Aseel的原型辅助应用程序。为了测试使用此应用程序对增强 ASD 儿童理解和回答阿拉伯语问题的能力的效果，我们招募了由两组儿童组成的样本：约旦安曼三个自闭症中心注册的 20 名语言自闭症儿童和 5 名非语言自闭症儿童。设计了包含 55 个内容问题的预测试，并针对两组进行了测试。然后，进行了为期三周的治疗，老师们训练孩子们使用该应用程序回答这些问题。休息三天后进行了一项后测，以测试该应用程序是否影响自闭症儿童的语言和非语言能力，以准确理解和回答问题。数据分析显示，两组前测和后测答案差异有统计学意义。这表明这项技术有潜力帮助患有自闭症谱系障碍的语言和非语言儿童有效学习复杂的阿拉伯语内容问题。这款辅助应用程序增强了教师与自闭症谱系障碍儿童之间的协作、视觉空间思维以及与他人的沟通。这个应用程序的另一个优点是增加自闭症儿童的词汇量。涉及非语言儿童的初步结果表明，在视觉和听觉上代表一个人最基本需求的图标在帮助该群体与其照顾者和老师沟通方面被证明是有效的。