What is Autism?

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are commonly occurring neurodevelopmental disorders. ASDs include autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder and Pervasive Developmemtal Disorder (PDD).

There exists three major areas of deficit for people with an ASD:

1. Communication development

2. Social skills

3. Engagement in repetitive behaviors

Young children with ASD generally demonstrate significant delays in language development, which impacts their ability to engage in meaningful conversations. Another area concern for children with ASD is that of “joint attention”, which is “the ability to share a mutual gaze toward another person or object and, more important, to take interest in what another person is doing or saying” (Stockall & Dennis, p.196). For example, children with ASD might ignore what another person is doing or saying even when several attempts have been made to gain their attention. As a result, these children struggle to use “pragmatic language”, which is the ability to use language to do things such as greeting others, requesting, commenting or protesting.

References

Stockall, N., & Dennis, L. R. (2014). Using pivotal response training and technology to engage preschoolers with autism in conversations. Intervention in School and Clinic, 49(4), 195-202.

What is Autism? (n.d.) Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism

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