Naturalistic Observations of Nonverbal Children with Autism: A Study of Intentional Communicative Acts in the Classroom

Abstract

We examined evoked and spontaneous communicative acts in six nonverbal children with autism (10–15 years, M = 12.8, SD = 2.1). All participants attended the same special school for children with autism but were in different classes. Each was observed for 30 minutes during a typical school day. An observer coded the presence/absence of an antecedent, the form and function of the communicative act, and the teacher’s response to the child. One hundred and fifty-five communicative acts were observed, 41% were spontaneous and 59% were evoked. The main antecedents to evoked communicative acts were verbal prompts, and most of the evoked communicative acts were physical in nature (i.e., motor acts and gestures). However, verbalizations and the use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) were higher for spontaneous communicative acts. The functions of spontaneous communicative acts were primarily requests. Results showed a substantial number of “nonresponses” from teachers, even following evoked communicative acts. These results suggest that teachers may not actively promote intentional communication as much as possible. Therefore, our findings provide information concerning ways in which educators could facilitate intentional communication in non-verbal children with autism.

The role of technology-mediated music-making in enhancing engagement and social communication in children with autism and intellectual disabilities

“…Andy). This is in accordance with previous studies having reported that request is often the most commonly used communicative function among individuals with autism (Chiang, 2009; Chiang and Lin, 2008; Drain and Engelhardt, 2013) or that requesting and rejecting are equally frequent (Potter and Whittaker, 2001). Regarding joint attention, the function of comment was measured.…”

“…Regardless of the existence of additional ID, children with autism tend to experience significant difficulties in initiating communication; when they do so, they communicate primarily for behaviour regulation purposes (e.g. request an object, reject/protest an activity) (Chiang, 2009; Chiang and Lin, 2008; Drain and Engelhardt, 2013; Potter and Whittaker, 2001). These difficulties can be exacerbated by additional ID, with their attendant poor attention and memory skills, perceptual difficulties, inflexibility of thinking, behaviour and/or sensory processing difficulties (Jordan, 2001).…”

Investigating Stay, Play, & Talk: A Peer-Mediated Social Skills Intervention for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Social Challenges

“…This could be a result of the varied nature of child-led activity in a classroom environment or the fit with the learning characteristics of this population, given that some research has shown that children with ASD often need to be taught social skills explicitly and benefit from structure and routine (Williams White, Keonig, & Scahill, 2007). This finding is in contrast with some previous studies that have suggested that unstructured times allow for more spontaneous communicative opportunities for children with ASD (Chiang, 2009;Drain & Engelhardt, 2013) and that structured activities may actually be associated with an increase in challenging behaviour (Chiang, 2008). For this first phase of the study, the results of questionnaires created from the ELECT framework for child development in Ontario for preschool-aged children in child care and kindergarten demonstrated a small but positive gains in social skills.…”

Mat á málþroska barna sem greind eru með einhverfu: Tengsl staðlaðra prófa og málsýna

“…Þá hafa rannsakendur hvatt til notkunar málsýna við mat á málþroska einhverfa barna en þau hafa talsvert verið notuð í mismunandi rannsóknum. Þar má meðal annars nefna rannsóknir sem fjalla um málþroska einhverfra barna með litla mállega getu (Kasari o.f l, 2013), athuganir á mismunandi málsniðum einhverfra barna (Tek o.f l., 2014), vísvitandi samskiptafrumkvaeði ómálga barna með einhverfu (Drain og Engelhardt, 2013), mat á málþroska einhverfra barna á breiðu sviði mállegrar getu, með og án málhamlana (Manolitsi og Botting, 2011;Tager-Flusberg og Calkins, 1990;Volden o.f l., 2011) og tengsl staðlaðra prófa og málsýna (Condouris o.f l., 2003;Ebert og Scott, 2014).…”