A preliminary study on screening prevalence of pervasive developmental disorder in schoolchildren in Iran.

Ghanizadeh (2008) asked parents of 2,000 Iranian schoolchildren to fill out a short screening form. The form looked for signs of autistic disorder and Asperger syndrome.

Kids came from regular public schools. No extra tests were done at this stage.

About 1 in 50 children (1.9%) scored high enough to be labeled 'probable autistic disorder.' Another 0.5% showed signs of Asperger.

Boys and girls were flagged at the same rate.

Morales-Hidalgo et al. (2018) and Morales Hidalgo et al. (2021) ran similar parent-plus-teacher surveys in Spain. They found almost the same numbers—around 1.5%—so Iran’s 2.4% total is not an outlier.

Amore et al. (2011) did a door-to-door check in Oman using the same DSM-IV rules. They reported only 1.4 cases per 10,000 children—about 20 times lower than Iran. The gap is not real prevalence; it is different screening sensitivity. Oman only counted kids already in services, while Iran cast a wide net with parent forms.

Memari et al. (2012) followed some of the same Iranian families. Four out of five children who screened positive were already on psychotropic meds, showing that identification quickly leads to treatment—sometimes heavy pharmacology.

If you work in a region without gold-standard autism clinics, a simple parent screener can still pick up roughly the same portion of kids seen in Western surveys. Expect about 1–2% of elementary students to need a full evaluation. Plan referral routes and staff training now, because once families get a label they are likely to seek medication or other services fast.