Communication in ASD

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Until 1980, odd speech patterns (e.g., echolalia: repetition of words, phrases and sometimes whole dialogs; pronoun reversal and unusual intonation) were emphasized as a primary characteristic of ASD.

Now, both verbal and nonverbal communication are considered core deficits in diagnosis criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorders.

The child’s level of communicative competence is an important predictor of outcome.

The severity of the communicative impairment may be one of the greatest sources of stress for families.

Fluent speech (i.e., multiword combinations) before 5 years of age is a good prognostic indicator of IQ scores, language measures, adaptive skills, and academic achievement in adolescence.

CHARACTERISTICS

One-third to one-half of persons with ASD do not have functional speech.

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Not only do children with autism have difficulty in acquisition of speech and language, but they also have difficulty understanding and using nonverbal behavior in communication interaction.

Diversity exists within speech, language, and communication characteristics for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

The impairment in pragmatic aspects (e.g., following social rules, shifting speaker/listener roles) of language and related cognitive skills are most highlighted for all children with ASD.

The majority of those who learn to talk go through a period of echolalia.

Children with autism who progress beyond echolalia usually acquire more advanced aspects of grammar.

They develop grammatical skills in the same general progression as typically developing children but show persisting problems in pragmatics.

 

Compared to other language-impaired preschoolers, children with ASD showed:

Children with autism show significant deficits in symbolic or make-believe play and limited abilities in functional play.

However, children with autism often perform at age appropriate levels on nonsocial constructive play (e.g., putting puzzles together) in comparison to typically developing children or children with language delays at the same language stage.

Children who show a greater capacity to coordinate attention and affect were more likely to communicate for more social reasons, to use a larger repertoire of conventional gestures, to have a higher rate of communicating, and to employ better repair strategies (Wetherby et al, 1998).