Intentional Communicative Behavior of Children with Autism: Theoretical and Practical Issues

A longitudinal study of cognitive skills and communication behaviours in children with Rett syndrome

Changes in the cognitive, communicative and interactive development of a group of six girls with Rett syndrome (three younger and three older) were documented over a 3-year period. All six maintained a profound level of intellectual performance and a preintentional level of communication in which caregivers assigned meaning to the girls' limited behaviours. However, marked individual variation was noted in both cognitive and social interaction skills. The study supported the notion of an increased perception of social interactiveness by the caregivers over time. The development of means-end behaviour, in particular, seems closely linked with the measured increase in behaviours inferred as communicative. However, the results also show that factors such as cognitive level, physical status and educational intervention may be related to this perception.

Naturalistic observations of spontaneous communication in autistic children

Thirty children with autism were observed during their everyday school activities in order to examine patterns of spontaneous communication. The forms, functions, and targets of their communication were recorded by trained observers. The prototypical communicative event consisted of a child directing a motoric form of communication toward the teacher to request something or to attract attention to himself or herself. However, communication patterns were found to vary as a function of the child's cognitive level and severity of autism. Deficits in joint attention functions were observed, and were most striking in the subgroup of children who did not use speech. Results are discussed with reference to Wetherby's (1986) model for the development of communicative functions in autistic children.

Ontogeny of communicative functions in autism

Autistic children have been stereotyped as noncommunicative and noninteractive; however, this may be partly attributed to traditional research approaches that do not consider the intentions of the child or the context of the social interaction. This discussion reviews some recent investigations that have used a developmental pragmatics framework to study language and communicative behaviors associated with autism. A working model of the ontogeny of communicative functions in autistic children is proposed. The communicative profile associated with autism is explained by factors related to the child's language-learning environment, as well as factors inherent in the child. Clinical implications for the design of language intervention programs for autistic children are offered.