Autism-Open Access
Open Access
ISSN: 2165-7890
ISSN: 2165-7890
Sabela Perez Blanco
University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Autism Open Access
Statement of the Problem: Communication skills, and especially the development of pragmatic competence, is one of the common characteristics at the linguistic level that people with autism present. This directly affects their relationship with the environment. However, little is known about this area with the development of comprehensive vocabulary and whether there is an interdependent relationship between them. The purpose of this research was to determine if the levels of comprehensive vocabulary and pragmatics are interdependent in children with autism. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Participants were 10 Spanish-speaking people with autism from Talavera de la Reina Association, which were children between 5 and 12 years old. The assessment instruments used were the Peabody test and the Revised Rapid Pragmatic Evaluation Protocol, which assessed language samples using videotaped conversations and offers cualitative findings about the language development. Findings: The results showed that people with autism displayed a variable level of pragmatic skills and a notable chronological discrepancy in vocabulary. Nevertheless, both the level of comprehensive vocabulary and pragmatic skills correlate with each other. Conclusion & Significance: These data lead us to stress the need for linguistic interventions based on both areas to improve communication in children with autism and the findings focus on the importance of pragmatic skills through their lives.
Sabela Pérez has her expertise in evaluation and passion in improving the language and communication skills in people with disability, especially in autism. She is speech and language therapist. She takes part in the research group called EITAL (Equipo de Investigación en Trastornos y Alteraciones del Lenguaje). They focus on language development and language profile in neurodevelopmental disorders