%0 Journal Article
%T Naturalistic Observations of Nonverbal Children with Autism: A Study of Intentional Communicative Acts in the Classroom
%A Samantha Drain
%A Paul E. Engelhardt
%J Child Development Research
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/296039
%X We examined evoked and spontaneous communicative acts in six nonverbal children with autism (10¨C15 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. 1. Introduction Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by impairments in social, behavioral, and linguistic domains. The DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autism are based on substantial impairments in communication and social interactions [1]. By some estimates, 25% of individuals with autism do not develop speech [2¨C4]. In addition, they also tend to show restrictive, repetitive, and stereotyped behaviors. However, it is important to note that most children with autism do use intentional communication even if they do not have symbolic communication abilities [5¨C8]. Stone et al. [9] reported that most nonverbal children with autism use less complex behaviors in their communicative acts compared to typically developing children, who use language as their primary means of communication. For example, if a child with autism wants an object, they will simply reach for it or make gesture, such as pointing, to indicate what they want. Similarly, in other cases, children with autism may use eye gaze or unusual verbalizations [10, 11], whereas a typically developing child will employ language to express their wants/desires. In general, there has been little systematic research on intentional communicative acts in nonverbal children with autism (cf. [5, 12¨C14]), and
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/cdr/2013/296039/