Abstract
Autism is a developmental disorder that causes severe impairment in the areas of language development, communication, and social interaction .the diagnosis of autism and other pervasive developmental disorders in early childhood has increased drastically in recent years. Aim : Evaluate effect of educational program on caregivers (knowledge and practices) toward caring of their autistic children. Subject and methods : A quasi-experimental research design wasused ,The presents study included 100 caregivers and their 100 autistic children aged between 4-12 years , they were recruited from two different settings El – Abasia mental health hospitalandsocial & preventive centre ,Cairo University Tools of study, socio-demographic data sheet for caregivers and their children. an interviewing questionnaire to assess the caregivers knowledge and an observational checklist for assessing the caregivers practices for their autistic children as basic self – care, fin and gross motor skills social and emotional skills speech and language skills. By Grejory,(2007) Results: Caregivers in the present study demonstrated a significant improvement in knowledge and practices that reflect on their children's skills in motor, emotional and language skills, before and after program implementationas regard(35.5±12.1) , (46.1 ± 15.0 ) for knowledge and (30.6+ 16.3). , (39.3 ± 11.4) for skills Conclusions. The study concluded that, educational program was effective for caregivers to improve their knowledge and practice regarding their autistic children Recommendation : Continuous educational program is needed specially for illiteracy caregivers to raise their awareness toward their autistic children regarding knowledge and practice through home visits, mass media should play a significant role to disseminate the needed information about caring for autistic children., nurses should receive adequate training programs, in autistic children care (physically, emotionally and socially). In order to provide comprehensive care for those children and their families