Communicative skills of children with autism

Abstract

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Some features of the disorder are difficulties in communication and language, which are important elements for early diagnosis. Objective: To investigate the communication skills of a group of children with autism spectrum disorder and the relationship with an age group and speech therapy intervention. Methods: The study included 11 children with ASD, aged between two and seven years old, and attended at the Speech-Language Pathology Clinic. To assess the functional profile of communication, the ACOTEA protocol - Communication Assessment in Autism Spectrum Disorder was used. After two sessions with games and toys to establish communicative situations, the therapists answered the thirty-six statements related to communication (expression, comprehension and social behavior). In addition, data were collected from the anamnesis on age, gender and whether the child had already undergone speech therapy with extended and alternative communication. Results: According to the results, deficits in expressive skills (pragmatic and morphosyntactic) were observed; shared attention and skills related to interaction with the environment, such as playing alone or with the environment. It was observed that children between five and seven years old performed better in shared attention, functional play and responding to names. And children who underwent the intervention with alternative communication showed significant improvement in shared care. Conclusion: The results obtained demonstrate that there is a relationship between communication skills and age group and that intervention with alternative communication contributes to the development of shared attention.