Effectiveness of a Training Program Based on PECS system in the Enhancement of Verbal and Non-verbal Communication Skills and Its Impact on Improving of Theory of Mind Skills of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract of the study in Arabic The name of the researcher is Mahmoud Sajid Abbas Ismail. Study title: The effectiveness of training on mental imagery skills in improving emotional understanding among children with autism spectrum disorder. Academic degree: Doctor of Philosophy of Education (Mental Health). Study destination: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Assiut University. The study aimed to identify the effectiveness of a training program based on mental visualization skills in improving the emotional understanding skills of children with autism spectrum in special education centers in Assiut. With an average age of 7:10 months and a standard deviation of 2.514, whose ages ranged from (6 to 10) years, and they were selected from children with average autism, as well as the application of the tools of the current study: a list of symptoms of autism disorder (Translation: Adel Abdullah Muhammad, (2006), the Stanford Built Intelligence Scale for Children Edition, preparation and standardization (Safwat Farag (2006), mental perception skills scale prepared by the researcher), emotional understanding battery prepared by the researcher for the Arab environment), the proposed training program based on mental visualization skills. The results of the study revealed that there are statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the emotional understanding battery in the post application in favor of the experimental group. There were no statistically significant differences between the mean scores of the experimental group on the emotional comprehension battery in the post and follow-up application. Keywords: Mental perception skills, emotional comprehension, children with dyslexia The solipsistic spectrum