1. The definitions of autism varied due to the multiplicity of scientific and theoretical trends that try to explain this anatomical psychological complex, and one of the most important definitions that researchers looked at in this field is the definition of Autism Spectrum Disorder in the American Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental and Mental Disorders DSM-5 in its latest edition, issued in 2014 as :-

2. ”A qualitative deficiency in the psychological and social capabilities is evident in a number of manifestations, the most prominent of which is the lack of social interest and the inability to communicate and interact with the surroundings, including the material and social stimuli. In addition to the repetition of strange motor behaviors, with the absence of typical play known in children and preoccupation with oneself (APA, 2014: P.315-39).”

3. The researchers adopted it as a theoretical definition, as they defined it procedurally as the degree that the respondent gets from the ASD scale used in the current research.

4. Playing electronic games.

5. The researchers also mentioned a number of definitions for playing electronic games, including the definition of (5), as: -

6. The kind of play that is concerned with games that are in a digital form and play in any electronic device that contains a screen. These include internet, computer and mobile games, which are usually exceptionally attractive and exciting for children.

The two researchers adopted it as a theoretical definition of the current research, and defined it procedurally as the degree to which the respondent would get as a result of calculating practice hours in electronic games.

The current research aims to identify-:

1. The level of autism spectrum disorder in children.

2. The relationship of autism spectrum disorder to playing electronic games.

3. The differences in the relationship between autism spectrum disorder and playing electronic games according to the gender variable (male – female).

The significance of the difference in the number of hours of play and the level of autism spectrum disorder according to the variable of age

1. Autism spectrum disorder and playing electronic games.

2. Intended sample selective of Autism institutes located within Wasit Governorate amount (35) (18)male,(17)female, and ages from (5- 10)year.

3. The current research was implemented in the year 2019- 2020.

The researches in the fields of mental health, as well as clinical psychology and psychiatry indicate that autism spectrum disorder is one of the most common mental disorders in our world today, and is a form of disability that affects children from a young age [1]. This is because having a child suffering from autism is a problem in itself that makes parents feel sad and frustrated for their sons and daughters [2]. It should also be noted that the incidence of this disorder increases among males by (1-4) compared to females [3]. Although autism disability has become a significant proportion of our Iraqi environment, it has not received its right to care and attention compared to developed countries [4]. Therefore, those afflicted with autism make them and their families a double pain in this country.

On the other hand, the excessive practice of electronic games has become one of the most prominent threats to societies all over the world in all live aspects as health, primarily the sense of vision, and the weakness of mental energy, and psychologically due of loneliness and splitting, sociality weak familial warmth... else. Until became a common term is (gaming addiction) [5].

Recent studies have repeatedly revealed the presence of evidence to effect between electric games and autistic appearances as in UAE and in Romania, it was reported that those with autistic predispositions rush to play these games [5, 6].

So the both researchers had initiated with the current research, wondering whether there is a relationship to autism spectrum disorder with playing electronic games or not? And the extent and nature of that relationship, if any?

The both researchers also adopted Zamfir’s 2018 model in explaining the causality of autism and the virtual electronic environment, as it collected his observations of children. In addition to private clinics, he found that there is a strong trend indicating that children suffering from autism spectrum disorder in the first years of life do not need a close relationship with parents or family members, but rather need care, guidance, support and learning.

In the event that there is a deficiency in these needs from the family or educational environment, they resort to behaviors that are characterized by self-centeredness as a sign of separation in finding solutions to the conflicts that occur to them, because of their lack of gratification, which Zamfir asserted that a large percentage of him is an emotional deficiency that concentrates in the child’s self and does not appear after that as his normal peers.

It appears that these consequences are inevitable as a result of childish emotional and material deprivation, and that there is an imbalance in children’s psychological functions, so they resort to searching for an alternative in their isolation, where the virtual environments are the broad field for expressing these incompatible psychological components and absorbing their autistic world in this electronic atmosphere, especially with the entry of these technologies into all homes, and they became accessible to everyone.

Therefore, the researchers indicated that children with autism have become almost always associated with these games, but other studies in the framework of Theoretical Etiology in the United States recently indicated the opposite, which is that these fun techniques that have become inherent to everyone, especially children, can be the causal factor in the growth and manifestations of autism originated even in the birth of normal children .This is because the practice of electronic play by children can lead to them developing autistic symptoms, the most prominent of which is the tendency to isolation, and the lack of sense of the external environment.

Thus, the research team came to the conclusion that children, as they continue to play electronic games, can melt with it to a point that makes it difficult to leave its virtual world and keep up with the outside world . As a result o these results, centers were established in the United States to treat virtual autism resulting from electronic games, then Europe, and so on, Russia, China and Japan.

Psychologists in Romania also conducted an in-depth study of a disorder with indications of autism manifestations, and they found a common point among the children involved in the study, which is playing electronic games or the so-called virtual environment at a rate of (1-4) hours or more per day, from which the largest causal factor in the occurrence of these manifestations arises. This led to theorizing in the field of autism the shift to environmental factors in the causation and development of autism symptoms, or that they may exacerbate autism symptoms in individuals who already suffer from it (6).

The current research follows the relational descriptive approach, which is the method that relies on studying reality according to the relationship approach, and expresses it quantitatively to provide us with a numerical description to clarify the amount of this phenomenon or its size and its relationship to various other phenomena [7]. The research community was represented by children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in autism centers located in Wasit Governorate in Iraq, and their number (80) children of all ages for the year 2019-2020. The two researchers selected a sample of (35) children, ages (5-10) years, (18) males, and (17) females. After investigating the parents, it was found that autistic children practicing electronic games reached (19), and the males were (12) and females (7). The autism spectrum disorder scale was applied in a corresponding way to the parents of the children, because the children are mentally and psychologically not qualified to answer the scale because of their autism, and table (1) illustrates that

Table 1: The research sample for those who suffer from autism spectrum disorder ranges from 3 to 5 years

The both researchers also prepared instrument to measure the main research variable represented by the Autism Spectrum Disorder Scale, while the electronic play variable measurement was determined by the time spent by the autistic child in his practice, which was determined according to the Zamfir standard(2018) with a time ranging from (1-4) hours or more[8].

The Autism Spectrum Disorder Scale:

In building the main research instrument, the researchers relied on the definition written in the American Diagnostic Manual of Mental and Mental Disorders(DSM-5) in its latest edition, 2014, which consisted of four main areas that included sub-dimensions, as follows:-

First Area: A persistent qualitative deficit in communication and social interaction, which included three dimensions:-

1. Deficiency in emotional and social interaction, ranging from abnormal social interaction to the inability to have a normal discussion

2. Deficits in nonverbal communication behaviours used, ranging from impaired integrity in verbal and nonverbal communication to abnormalities in visual communication and body language or inability to use gestures, to a complete lack of facial expressions and nonverbal communication.

3. Failure or inability to develop, maintain and under- stand relationships, and it ranges from difficulties in modifying behaviour to suit different social contexts, to difficulties in sharing play or in making friends, to a lack of interest in peers.

Second Area: Patterns of limited and repetitive behaviors, interests, and activities, and consists of four dimensions:

1. Repeated stereotypes of movement or use of objects or speech (for example, simple movement patterns, describing games and turning things around, verbal echo, and idiosyncrasy of phrases).

2. Insistence on resemblance, monotony, inflexible adher- ence to routine, and ritual patterns of verbal and nonverbal behavior (for example, extreme distress at partial changes, rigid thought patterns, greeting rituals, the need to go the same way every day, or eat the same food every day).

3. Interests specific to intensity and concentration (for example, attachment and preoccupation with unusual things).

4. Excessive or reduced response to sensory input or unusual interest in the surrounding environment (for example, apparent indifference to temperature, negative response to surrounding sounds, excessive smelling and touching of objects, fascination with lights and movement).

Third Area : Symptoms must appear at an advanced stage, but they may not, in turn, reach a clear and integrated form, unless it exceeds some social situations, or the symptoms may fade away in the future, due to some of the strategies that he received through education and training.

Forth Area: These symptoms may result in deficits with clear clinical indications in current performance, aspects of social or professional interaction, or any other important areas. (DSM 5,2014:P.28-29).

The items amounted to (40)items, in addition to instruc tions that were formulated by reviewing previous measures of autism, and because they were naturally presented to those with disturbed subjects, since the disordered were not qualified to answer due to their autism condition, the instructions took into account that matter that they will be presented to individuals with different academic achievements. And alternatives were: (does not apply, applies to a simple degree, applies to a moderate degree, applies to a severe degree), and weights ranged from (0, 1, 2, 3).

The apparent validity index was extracted by presenting the items to a number of experts, whose number reached (10) evaluators, and the researchers adhered to the acceptance criterion, the item reached (80%), that is, the item agreed upon by (8) of the total of (10) evaluators, so all the items obtained the approval of the evaluators is (100%), and as shown in table (2).

Table 2: The percentages of arbitrators’ opinions regarding the validity of the autism spectrum disorder items.

Discrimination was calculated using the method of the two terminal groups of the (30) research questionnaires. After determining the upper 50% of the (15) forms, and the minimum 50% of the (15) forms. By using the method (chi- square) and the value of (P-probability) to demonstrate the significance of the discriminatory power of each of the items, it was found that items (1, 5) of the first dimension of the first area , and items (7, 9) of the second dimension of the first area, item(14) of the third dimension of the first area, item (19) of the first dimension of the second area, item(36) of the third area, and item(39) of the fourth area . Therefore, the items that did not obtain the necessary value for discrimination amounted to (8) items, as they are not statistically significant because the value of (P) probability is greater than the level of significance (0.05), as shown in table (3).

Table 3: The discriminatory power of the two-terminal autism spectrum disorder scale

Scale- Item Relationship (Internal Consistency) To extract this important psychometric index for the Autism Spectrum Disorder Scale, Pearson Correlation Coefficient was used to verify the extent of the correlation between the scores of the items and the total scores of each dimension with the total score of the field, and it was found that all the correlation coefficients are statistically significant at the significance level (0.05), except for the items that fell in discrimination and the indicator in the previous table as it indicated weak correlation coefficients on the scale at the level (0.05), and table (4) shows that :-