Autism spectrum as a communication disorder: A case study

Communication is a vital social phenomenon; therefore, its study must be related to theories of social structure, social behavior, and human interaction. Successful communication is substantially crucial for better social life in all contexts. Unfortunately, the process of communication in medical settings and healthcare is challenging, especially when communicating with patients who are affected by cognitive communicative disorders including people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This paper aims to address the difficulties and the different encumbrances related to autism and communication in the Algerian context. It attempts to evaluate the effectiveness of communication interventions in children with ASD, and look for reliable methods to help families promote their children's communication abilities. The current research is a case study of a six-year-old child with ASD, in addition to the participants involved; his caregivers, parents, escorts, and the speech therapist. The study shows that the child suffers from language impairments that are typical of autistic children's verbal repertoire: lexical, grammatical, morphological, and syntactic impairments that lead to a failure in the communicative task. The analysis of the data indicates that patients with ASD suffer also from different extra-linguistic problems which can be diminished through successful social interaction and effective therapeutic interventions.

‘MEMORY’ AND ‘OBLIVION’ IN CONTEMPORARY GERMAN LITERATURE

This article explores the concepts of memory and oblivion as dominant themes in the revision and reconstruction of the past in contemporary German literature. Michel Foucault’s method of discursive analysis and Jan and Aleida Assman’s memory theory are used to analyse narrative strategies employed by contemporary German authors. Historical, sociocultural, media, and psychological discourses are viewed as contributing to the formation of protagonists’ individual memories. The trajectory along which ‘functional memory’ transmutes from ‘comforting oblivion’ to the ‘loss of identity’, as depicted in the novels Abschied von den Feinden by Reinhard Jirgl and Animal triste by Monika Maron, is analysed in the context of the cultural trauma experience. A consequence of the traumatic experience is the splitting of the self and intrusion, which is expressed through random tormenting remembrances eluding narrative description. To the fore comes silence, which fulfils a narrative-theoretical function. Contemporary German novels written after 1989 are marked by asymmetry between cultural and individual memory. This asymmetry is manifested at the level of the protagonists’ speech and communicative disorders as well as in the inviability of memories beyond local spaces. Auto-communication, mediated reflection, de(re)construction of memories, and conscious oblivion become the principal models for the formation of individual, social, and national identity.

FRI0632-HPR PSYCHOLOGICAL PARTICULIARITIES OF PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM MONOGENIC AUTO-INFLAMMATORY DISEASES.

Background:Monogenic auto-inflammatory diseases (mAID) are a group of severe chronic multisystemic diseases with recurring episodes of fever and other manifestations that significantly affect the patients’ life quality. Moreover, the hyper expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL1β, etc.) observed in these patients may have a negative effect on the central nervous system.Objectives:to study the state of the cognitive and emotional spheres in children suffering from monogenic auto-inflammatory diseases.Methods:there were examined 22 children at the age of 7 to 17 years old diagnosed with CAPS-9, TRAPS-8, FMF-5. Among them there were 12 boys and 10 girls. The diagnosis in all the patients was confirmed through detection of pathogenic mutations in the NLRP3, TNFRSF1A and MEFV genes. The following methods were used: a clinical conversation; memory diagnostics (learning by heart of 10 words, a pictogram using cues taking into account the patients’ age); attention diagnostics (Schulte tables); thinking diagnostics (establishing a sequence of events, “four is a crwod”, simple analogies, interpretation of proverbs); emotional and communicative fields (the Eight-Color Luscher Test; CMAS (adaptation by A. Prikhozhan); STAI test, a drawing called “an animal that does not exist” and “a house-a tree-a man”).Results:The memory study revealed in all patients with TRAPS and FMF high and medium values of short-term and long-term memory, in patients with CAPS - a low level of short-term auditory-speech memory, information storage and indirect memorization in 1/3 of patients. In 100% of the examined patients with TRAPS, a significant decrease in all processes of attention and distribution of attention. In 1/3 of patients with CAPS, an increased exhaustion of attention was registered and in 11% - a decrease in its stability. In patients with FMF, attention disorders were not detected. In 44% of patients with CAPS, a decrease in the level of generalization and difficulties in establishing causal relationships were registered. In 25% of patients with TRAPS a decrease in the level of generalization, in 12.5%- difficulties in establishing cause-effect relationships, inertia of thinking in 37.5%. In 60% of patients with FMF: a decrease in the level of generalization, in 80%: difficulties in establishing cause-effect relationships, inertia of thinking in 20%. In the emotional sphere, patients with CAPS, TRAPS, and FMF demonstrated signs of aggression (11.1%, 20% and 20% of patients, respectively), communicative disorders (77.8% -80% - 80%), and reduced social adaptation (55.5% - 80% - 80%), a tendency to form neurotic fears (22% - 40% - 40%). A high level of personal anxiety was noted in 1/3 of patients with CAPS and 40% of patients with FMF.Conclusion:various psychological disorders in the cognitive and emotional fields were noted in the majority of the examined patients with monogenic auto-inflammatory diseases. In patients with TRAPS, attention processes are most significantly affected; in patients with CAPS, memory is more often affected. In patients with FMF, disorders in thinking processes are revealed more often. In the emotional sphere, most patients with all the three forms of AID note communicative disorders and social adaptation.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics in Bulgaria – from Isolation to Interdisciplinary Approach

Clinical linguistics and phonetics is one of the fast growing scientific fields in the past decades. Its role is important either for developing methods and interdisciplinary ap-proach in linguistics and phonetics or studying the nature of communicative disorders. It could also include collaborative work with specialists from other fields as computational linguistics, neuroscience, etc. In this broad context clinical linguistics and phonetics is a challenge for the Humanities in Bulgaria. The reason is that with regard to interdiscipli-nary research in this area there is still much to be done. A few are the studies in Bulgaria which could be related to Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics but many of them have the disadvantage of a research in isolation, i.e. with no collaboration with the appropriate specialists. When it is up to communication an interdisciplinary and even multidisciplinary approach is needed having in mind that communication itself is a complicated process and its disorders are a challenge for all scientists who work in the field of communication.

Communication Barriers Caused by Cultural Differences in Interpreting and Coping Strategies

The paper is made up of five parts. The introduction part describes the background and fundamental structure of the paper. The second part is a review of the literature, which summarizes the views of previous studies and then adds some of our own viewpoints at the same time. The body part can be divided into two sections: analysis on the causes and forms of communicative obstacles; analysis on coping strategies of communicative disorders. The analysis of causes includes specific causes and specific problems. The coping strategies include how to make flexible use of interpreting strategies, how to make effective use of interpreting methods and how to enhance interpreters' awareness and competence of intercultural communication. The last part is the conclusion. Besides drawing on the views of previous studies, we also put forward our own points of view: one is putting the knowledge into practice can enhance the professionalism and ability of interpreters, the other is that domestication and foreignization are translation strategies, while literal and free interpretation are concrete methods of translation.