Effectiveness Of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy on Reducing Stuttering Disorder and Increasing Pragmatic Language Skills in a Sample of Children with High Functioning Autism

The current research aimed to prepare a program to alleviate stuttering so that we can increase pragmatics skills in a sample of children with high functioning autism through applying Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) also, to verify the current program effectiveness continuity after graduation. The one design group sample consisted of (10) children divided into experimental group (5) children: (3) males and (2) females and control group (5) children (4) males and (1) female, enrolled in the consultation Center for Children and Adolescents in Port Said Governorate, aged (9- 12) years, (10.60) means and (1.10) SD and IQ coefficient (90 - 100) participated. The research tools included: Wechsler scale of children's intelligence (4^th ed.) (translated by El-Behairy, 2017), Gilliam Autism Rating Scale GARS (2006) (Translated by Mohamed, & Abu Al-Majd, 2020) for diagnosing autism, Stuttering severity test (Really, 1986) (Translated by El-Refay, 1999) Pragmatic Language Skills scale for children with autism spectrum disorder (by the researcher) to measure pragmatic language skills and the training-based program on Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (by the researcher). The research findings revealed that there were statistically significant differences between mean ranks of pre and post assessment scores on reducing stuttering disorder and increasing pragmatic language skills in children with high functioning autism (experimental group) favoring post assessment. The results also revealed statistically significant differences between mean scores of experimental and control groups on reducing stuttering disorder and increasing pragmatic language skills in children with high functioning autism after graduation favoring experimental group, and that there are no statistically significant differences between mean scores of post and follow-up assessments on reducing stuttering disorder and increasing pragmatic language skills in children with high functioning autism (experimental group).