Communication behaviours of mothers and children in autism spectrum

Abstract

Child directed verbal and non verbal behaviours play a crucial role in the development of communication skills in young children this study compared child-directed utterances and newlinepragmatic acts used by mothers of 2 to 4 year old children with autism spectrum disorder ASD with that of two groups of typically developing TD children one matched for chronological age TD CA and other for language level TD LL Each group had fifty children making a total of 150 mother child dyads in total Forty minutes mother child interaction during free play at home was analysed Results indicated that the number of utterances used by mothers in the three groups were similar However the type of sentences used by each group varied distinctly Mothers in the ASD 49 point 1 percent and TD LL group 35 point 47 percent predominantly used imperatives while mothers in TD CA group used more of interrogatives 50 point 12 percent Among the three groups declarative and exclamatory sentences were more in TD LL group Negative sentences were more in mothers of ASD children Analysis of pragmatic acts indicated that mothers in ASD group initiated more and took a dominant role during the interaction while mothers of TD children were engaged predominantly in responding to their children The study concluded that in addition profiling language skills of children a comprehensive assessment of child directed speech would provide directions for child-oriented assessment and management Considering the era of globalization and migration this language and culture specific findings may be of interest to several practitioners catering to Tamil population newline newline