It Takes a Community: How Environmental Systems Construct (In)Competence in Autistic Peer Interactions

PURPOSE

This study aims to illustrate how environmental systems shape the peer interactions of an autistic student within the classroom.

METHOD

Drawing on the bioecological model of human development, this situated discourse analysis used thematic coding and microanalysis to examine data from semistructured interviews and 10 sessions of direct classroom observations of a 9-year-old autistic student and his classroom communication partners.

RESULTS

Convergent data across participants, time, and data sources revealed the following systemic influences on peer interaction: predominant medicalized view of autism (macrosystem), educational practices (exosystem), misaligned roles across adults and peers in the classroom (mesosystem), and multimodal opportunities for direct interaction that were supported by objects and physical contact and inhibited by rapid pacing (microsystem).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings illustrate the environmental complexities associated with the development of peer interactions for autistic students. We offer explicit clinical implications for how environmental factors can be addressed in the school-based eligibility determination process and in the Individualized Education Program.

Communication Profile of a Minimally Verbal School-Age Autistic Child: A Case Study

Purpose The present clinical focus draws on an intrinsic case study to provide a thick description of the communication profile of John, a 9-year-old minimally verbal autistic student. Method Specifically, traditional behavioral assessments, classroom video observations, and semistructured interviews were used to gather information regarding John's communication profile and potential sensory-motor differences. Results Convergent evidence indicated that John's expressive profile was characterized by single words, emergent word combinations, some conventional gestures, and a low frequency of communicative initiations. Concomitant language comprehension challenges and poor intelligibility associated with motor speech impairment were also indicated. His sensory-motor profile was marked by fine motor impairment, relative strengths in gross motor abilities, and sensory differences across visual, hearing, and tactile modalities. Conclusion Direct implications for supporting minimally verbal autistic students like John include the need to (a) consider sensory-motor influences on social interaction and (b) support flexible use of multimodal communication resources, including augmentative and alternative communication. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12202448.

Illustrating a Supports-Based Approach Toward Friendship With Autistic Students

PURPOSE

The present clinical focus article describes and illustrates 3 key elements of a supports-based approach to enhancing friendship with autistic students.

METHOD

In comparison to the predominant skills-based approach, we highlight 3 key elements of a supports-based approach to social interaction for autistic children and youth. We then offer descriptive details of the activity-based music program as an illustrative example of a program that integrated all 3 elements of a supports-based approach. Specifically, we designed an activity-based music program to enhance social interaction among a 7-year-old autistic student and 4 of his nonautistic peers.

RESULTS

We focused on 3 key elements of a supports-based approach for enhancing peer interaction: (a) focusing on participation in a shared activity, (b) encouraging flexible use of multiple communicative resources, and (c) supporting egalitarian interaction.

CONCLUSION

A supports-based approach presents a theoretically distinct and viable alternative to a skills-based approach in the design of social supports for autistic students and their peers.

“I Think He Wants You to Play the Guitar:” Use of Behavioral Interpretation as a Strategy for Facilitating Peer Interaction Across Autistic and Nonautistic Peers

Purpose

The study examined the nature and potential impact of a relatively novel clinician strategy, behavioral interpretation, on peer interactions involving an autistic child.

Method

This extended qualitative analysis reviewed 49 instances of a clinician using behavioral interpretation as part of a music education program. The program was designed to facilitate peer interaction across a 7-year-old autistic child. Aaron, and 4 of his nonautistic peers from the same classroom. After reviewing the 21 video-recorded sessions, the research team selected the most salient examples of behavioral interpretation for microanalyses.

Findings

By focusing on a detailed review of the 6 most clear, concise, and compelling examples, we found that behavioral interpretation took 2 forms aimed at helping explain an unclear behavior: narrating (e.g., “I see you looking at strings”) and offering possible meanings (e.g., “I think he wants you to play guitar”). After limited exposure to behavioral interpretation, peers began displaying similar patterns of interaction that drew attention and speculation regarding Aaron's nonverbal forms of communication.

Conclusions

Behavioral interpretation, a relatively undocumented strategy in the autism literature, appeared as a feasible and promising strategy for shaping egalitarian peer interaction. Important nuances regarding the implementation and limitations of this strategy are also discussed.

Distributed communication: Implications of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) for communication disorders

This article proposes distributed communication as a promising theoretical framework for building supportive environments for child language development. Distributed communication is grounded in an emerging intersection of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) and theories of communicative practices that argue for integrating accounts of language, cognition and culture. The article first defines and illustrates through selected research articles, three key principles of distributed communication: (a) language and all communicative resources are inextricably embedded in activity; (b) successful communication depends on common ground built up through short- and long-term histories of participation in activities; and (c) language cannot act alone, but is always orchestrated with other communicative resources. It then illustrates how these principles are fully integrated in everyday interactions by drawing from my research on Cindy Magic, a verbal make-believe game played by a father and his two daughters. Overall, the research presented here points to the remarkably complex communicative environments and sophisticated forms of distributed communication children routinely engage in as they interact with peer and adult communication partners in everyday settings. The article concludes by considering implications of these theories for, and examples of, distributed communication relevant to clinical intervention.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Readers will learn about (1) distributed communication as a conceptual tool grounded in an emerging intersection of cultural-historical activity theory and theories of communicative practices and (2) how to apply distributed communication to the study of child language development and to interventions for children with communication disorders.