scholarly journals Social Communication Skills of School-Aged Children with High Functioning Autism or Specific Language Impairment in Analogous to Korean Classroom Setting

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeon Sun Jin ◽  
Soyeong Pae
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Classroom Setting ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
School Aged Children ◽  
Social Communication Skills

scholarly journals Article choice, theory of mind, and memory in children with high-functioning autism and children with specific language impairment

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
JEANNETTE SCHAEFFER ◽  
MEREL VAN WITTELOOSTUIJN ◽  
AVA CREEMERS
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Phonological Memory ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Indefinite Article

ABSTRACTPrevious studies show that young, typically developing (TD) children (<age 5) and children with specific language impairment (SLI; >age 5) make errors in the choice between a definite and an indefinite article. Suggested explanations for overgeneration of the definite article include failure to distinguish speaker from hearer assumptions, and for overgeneration of the indefinite article failure to draw scalar implicatures, and weak working memory. However, no direct empirical evidence for these accounts is available. In this study, 27 Dutch-speaking children with high-functioning autism, 27 children with SLI, and 27 TD children aged 5–14 were administered a pragmatic article choice test, a nonverbal theory of mind test, and three types of memory tests (phonological memory, verbal, and nonverbal working memory). The results show that the children with high-functioning autism and SLI (a) make similar errors, that is, they overgenerate the indefinite article; (b) are TD-like at theory of mind, but (c) perform significantly more poorly than the TD children on phonological memory and verbal working memory. We propose that weak memory skills prevent the integration of the definiteness scale with the preceding discourse, resulting in the failure to consistently draw the relevant scalar implicature. This in turn yields the occasional erroneous choice of the indefinite articleain definite contexts.

scholarly journals Article choice in children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 107-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeannette C. Schaeffer ◽  
Merel van Witteloostuijn ◽  
Doatske de Haan
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Scalar Implicature ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Group A ◽  
Impaired Children

This study reports on the choice between a definite and an indefinite article by children with High Functioning Autism (HFA) and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). We carried out an elicited production task with 16 Dutch-speaking non-grammatically impaired children with HFA aged 6–13, 16 age-matched Dutch-speaking children with SLI, and 16 typically developing (TD) age controls. The results in the indefinite conditions reveal virtually no errors across groups. However, in the definite condition the HFA group, but NOT the SLI group, incorrectly produces indefinite articles significantly more often than the TD group. A more detailed analysis shows that 38% (6/16) of the children with HFA vs. 13% (2/16) of the children with SLI regularly produce indefinite articles in definite contexts. We propose that these children do not always calculate the additional (pragmatic) meaning of indefinites derived by scalar implicature (Horn 2006). Furthermore, development by age in the SLI group, but NOT in the HFA group, suggests that the failure to draw a scalar implicature is more persistent in children with HFA than in children with SLI. Concluding, our results show that non-grammatically impaired children with HFA are more prone to pragmatic impairments than children with SLI, suggesting a dissociation between grammar and pragmatics.

‘Just trying to talk to people … It’s the hardest’: Perspectives of adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder on their social communication skills

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Kelly ◽  
Mary-Pat O’Malley ◽  
Stanislava Antonijevic
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Social Communication ◽  
High Functioning Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
High Functioning ◽  
Social Communication Skills ◽  
Increased Risk

Difficulty with social communication is the most pervasive difficulty experienced by individuals with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HF-ASD). Communication difficulties are often magnified in adolescence as social demands become more intricate. This puts adolescents with HF-ASD at increased risk of social isolation and depression, as they have difficulty developing positive social identity. Yet, there is a dearth of literature addressing the communication issues of this population and even fewer studies including the voice of adolescents with HF-ASD themselves. This study aimed to (1) explore the perspectives of adolescents with HF-ASD as to their social communication skills, (2) explore what (if any) difficulties they perceive themselves as having when talking with their peers, (3) explore if they would like help with social communication skills and (4) determine what kind of help they think may be useful to them and establish if they already use self-initiated strategies. This study was qualitative in nature, using thematic analysis to analyse data collected from 10 semi-structured interviews with 5 adolescents with HF-ASD. Qualitative research underpins the idea that one must understand the significance and explanation that people give to situations, experiences, their own actions and to the actions of others, for one to comprehend human behaviours and actions. A qualitative design allowed us to gain the most in depth insight into how adolescents with HF-ASD understand and perceive their experiences. Three themes emerged revealing the participants’ perceptions of their difficulties communicating, challenging feelings that they experience about communication, and their perspectives about the support for developing communication skills. The participants indicated a need for support to aid their desire to improve communication skills and interactions with typically developing peers. In educational settings, adolescents with HF-ASD may benefit from a peer mentor system to give them opportunities to practice social communication skills with typically developing peers and to encourage inclusion amongst their classmates.

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