Communication Problems
Communication Problems
Children with autism have difficulty with communication skills. Some children have mild problems, while others have very severe communication problems. Many children with autism develop language much later than their typically-developing peers. Current research suggests, however, that more than 70 percent of children with autism will develop speech, most before they are five years old.
Moderate to Severe Communication Deficits
Some children with autism do not talk. When they are young, parents and other caregivers must guess what they need. Many parents report that their children are "very independent" and get what they want by themselves. Some children communicate what they want by taking an adult's hand and placing it on an object. The hand is essentially a tool for the child. For example, to go outside, they may place a parent's hand on the doorknob. The majority of children who are non-verbal when they are young will develop speech as they grow older.
Mild Communication Deficits
Young children with mild communication deficits may learn single words early, but those words may be unusual for first words. For example, instead of "baba," a child's first word might be "dinosaur" or "locomotive." As they get older, children with mild language deficits may be able to speak clearly about a range of topics from robots to dinosaurs to street names. Some children have a strong vocabulary but have difficulty with the social aspects of language. Even though they may use words that are considered advanced for their young age, they may talk about things without paying attention to whether anyone is interested in hearing about that topic. They may be able to talk about their interests, but not about what anyone else?particularly other children?wants to talk about.
Communicative Intent
Many children with autism will say words before they use them to communicate. They may like listening to the sounds of the words and not be aware of the impact that words can have on other people. Speech is generally used to communicate something to another person. Typically-developing children learn quickly that they can use their speech to make something happen in their world. They can get food, get a favorite toy or get attention. Some children with autism talk but don't understand that they can use their speech to make things happen. When children use speech for the purpose of making things happen, it is called communicative intent. A child who looks at her father and says "cookie" is using communicative intent?she is communicating directly with her father that she wants a cookie. She is using speech intentionally to make something happen. A child who points at an airplane and looks at his mother to see if she looks at the airplane too, is using communicative intent. He is using gestures to get his mother's attention and share his interest. Some children with autism use speech without the intention of communicating with another person. A child who places a hand on a doorknob so that the door will open or screams when he is hungry?without looking at his mother?is not intentionally communicating. A child who repeats dialogue from a television show just to hear the sounds without caring if anyone is listening or not is not using communicative intent.
Echolalia
Some children repeat what they hear, either as an automatic response to hearing language or as an unusual form of communication. This repeating is called "echolalia." Children with echolalia may repeat what they hear immediately (immediate echolalia) or some time after they have heard it (delayed echolalia). An example of immediate echolalia is: Sometimes, phrases are repeated but have no meaning to the child or to the listener. They are repeating just to hear the sounds. Sometimes, the echolalic phrases are used to communicate something?a child will say "ready, set, go" when he wants to go outside, or he will repeat dialogue from Toy Story when he wants his Woody toy (Prizant & Duchan, 1981; Prizant & Rydell, 1984). Sometimes children repeat what is said first, then respond. The echolalia seems to be a way of helping the child process what has been said. For example, when an adult asks "What's your name?" A child may respond, "What's your name? Jason."
Auditory Processing Deficits
Children with autism sometimes have significant auditory processing deficits. Auditory processing is the ability to understand and interpret spoken language. When children have auditory processing difficulties, they have trouble following directions, listening to a group lecture or understanding multi-step instructions. Some children seem to understand what is said to them only after a delay of several seconds or they may understand only the last part of a multi-step direction. Children with auditory processing difficulties may seem to ignore what is said to them when, in fact, they are having trouble understanding or processing what was said.
Problems With Prosody
Prosody refers to the intonation or the "music" of speech. We use intonation and prosody to help our listeners understand the meaning of what we say. For example, when we say the same sentence, but emphasize different words, the meaning changes:
Pragmatic Language Difficulties
Some children have difficulty with pragmatic language, the process of communicating effectively and efficiently. A child with pragmatic language difficulties may be able to talk about dinosaurs or street routes, but can't tell her parents what she did in school that day. Children with autism often have trouble having a conversation, even if they are able to ask for what they need or want. They have trouble understanding the social rules about having conversations. Pragmatic language involves:
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