Arabian Gulf University: Researcher Saleh Raji Al Deehani measured the level of parents’ satisfaction with the services provided to their children with autism spectrum disorder according to some variables in his Master’s thesis that was discussed in the Department of Learning and Developmental Disabilities at the College of Graduate Studies at the Arabian Gulf University.
In his thesis, he called for the provision of basic services for people with autism spectrum disorder in the post-school stage, and keeping pace with emerging global standards for services for this category by benefiting from recent regional and international experiences to develop the services provided to them.
The research aimed to reveal the level and differences in the level of parents’ satisfaction with the services provided to their children with autism spectrum disorder, according to the age stage of the student and the type of programme. The research sample consisted of 88 parents who have children with autism spectrum disorder and enrolled in special education centres in Kuwait. Researcher Al Deehani used a measure of that he prepared himself, and the results showed that the level of parents’ satisfaction with the services provided was high in all aspects.
Results also indicated that there are no differences in the level of parents’ satisfaction with the services provided to their children, due to the age stage, and there are no statistically significant differences due to the type of programme, whether governmental or private. This prompted the researcher to recommend working on implementing international standards for services for people with autism spectrum disorder, and organising workshops for parents to raise their awareness on the services available in society to their children, in addition to activating family counseling services to raise awareness of how to deal with their children, as well as the locations of their social care services for newly diagnosed children.
During the discussion of his thesis, the researcher stressed the necessity of relying on scientific methods, records, statistics and reports to benefit from them when planning and implementing services provided to people with autism spectrum disorder.
The study was supervised by Dr Maryam Isa Al Sherawi, Professor of Special Education at AGU, as the main supervisor, while Dr Wid Hussain Daghustani, Assistant Professor of Special Education at AGU, was a co-supervisor.