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Communication in Preschool Autistic Children

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Preschool Issues in Autism

Part of the book series: Current Issues in Autism ((CIAM))

Abstract

Over the past decade, major advances have been made in understanding communication and social problems of young children with autism. This progress has resulted in a greater emphasis on specific communicative symptomatology in diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Thus, communication characteristics in autism are now considered to be central to our understanding of the syndrome, and to assessment and treatment efforts. This increased emphasis on language and communication in both theory and practice has been fueled by a confluence of knowledge from a variety of orientations (Prizant & Wetherby, 1989). Whereas approaches to assessing and enhancing communication in the 1960s and 1970s relied primarily upon behavioral models of speech training (e.g., Lovaas, 1977; 1981), developmental and pragmatic approaches have had an increasing influence since the late 1970s. Earlier behavioral approaches demonstrated that children with autism can learn specific skills in vocal and motor imitation, word production, and word discrimination. However, true progress in social-communicative competence (i.e., development of spontaneous verbal and nonverbal communication) was often of limited interest to clinicians and researchers of a more traditional behavioral orientation (Bryen & Joyce, 1985; Prizant, 1982; Prizant & Wetherby, 1989), and thus was rarely measured and/or reported.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Communication Disorders, Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, 02116, USA

    Barry M. Prizant

  2. Department of Communication Disorders, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, USA

    Amy M. Wetherby

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  1. Barry M. Prizant
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  2. Amy M. Wetherby
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division TEACCH, Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599-7180, USA

    Eric Schopler , Mary E. van Bourgondien  & Marie M. Bristol ,  & 

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Prizant, B.M., Wetherby, A.M. (1993). Communication in Preschool Autistic Children. In: Schopler, E., van Bourgondien, M.E., Bristol, M.M. (eds) Preschool Issues in Autism. Current Issues in Autism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2441-4_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2441-4_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2443-8

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