The Common Play Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Evidence from Saudi Arabia

This study investigated the common play skills autism spectrum disorder and statistical differences in the playing skills of autistic children disorder that attribute to disorder severity and sex of the child. The study sample consisted of (163) teachers and parents of students with autism registered in government centers and institutes for the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Social Affairs in Jeddah for the academic year 2020/2021, who were randomly selected. A questionnaire was adopted including (52) items divided into (4) dimensions to collect data about the playing skills of autistic children disorders, including basic play skills, individual play skills, symbolic play skills, and playing with others skills. The findings revealed that autistic children condition have generally moderate play skills. The findings also revealed that there are no statistically significant variations in playing skills between males and females with an autism spectrum disorder. In addition, the findings showed that there are statistically significant variations in play skills between autistic children disorders related to the severity of the disorder favor to children with simple disorder.