Quranic Recitation Using Technology as Complimentary Therapy to Ameliorate Social Skills for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Introduction: The number of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is on the rise. ASD is a neurodevelopmental disability that affects social communication and social interaction that manifests with a restricted, repetitive pattern of behaviour, interest or activit ies (RRB) at an early developmental age. Consequently, ASD children are facing difficulties in social skills aspect such as eye contact, expression, and making friends. There are limited studies that show the recitation of the Quran may improve some symptoms, but there is no specific study that demonstrates the impact of the renditions on social skills. Objectives : To investigate the effect selected Quranic verses recitation on the social skills of the children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Method : This study uses Quranic verses which are selected using two categories of the Quranic inimitability doctrine (I'jaz Al-Quran) (Al-Atrasy, 2007). Firstly, the influencing inimitabi lit y (I'jaz Ta'thiri) and secondly the language inimitability (I'jaz Lughawi). The recitation is kept consistent exposing to the children with ASD for a specified amount of time using an audio player with a Bluetooth speaker. The sound decibels will also be recorded. They will then be exposed to standard occupational therapy techniques. The evaluation of performance will use Quasi-Experimental research design questionnaires. Fourteen ASD Muslim children aged between 4-6 years old has been recruited for this research. The ASD children will be divided into an experimental and control group. The Social Responsiveness Scale- Second Edition (SRS-2) will be used to assess the response. The scale consists of a set of questionnaires, with Likert-scale evaluation. Results : The expected result for this study is the ASD children in the experimental group will have lower Total-scores of SRS-2 compared to control group. Conclusion : Quranic recitation provides effective complementary therapy to improve social skills among Muslim ASD children International Journal of Human and Health Sciences Supplementary Issue: 2019 Page: 38