Autism's Communication Skills

Social interaction is defined as “a process of reciprocal stimulation and response between two people. It develops competition, interaction, influences social roles and status, and influences people in development of social relationships.” (What is SOCIAL INTERACTION) By adolescence most individuals are fairly competent at social interaction and have a general understanding of what is required of them in most social situations. For high functioning autistic children, this is far from the case. Simple interactions between themselves and others can be confusing and difficult to navigate without proper adaptive training in social behavior. In the following sections, we will explain the need for this training, how it is implemented, and the

Have you ever experience a moment when you were unable to communicate your words, or couldn’t think of the word to use the feeling you were trying to describe? Everyone has felt this way before, possibly multiple times per day. But the reality is for the people in our community with autism, this is a constant feeling of difficulty to communicate effective with others. The people that are diagnosed with autism face the daily obstacles of being unable to use their voice and having to learn different ways to read body language and tone of voice, something that comes fairly easy to most of us. The communication barriers facing people with autism enable us to work past the differences and find a new way of communicating that is effective for them.

As a part of American culture, Autism Speaks has wriggled its way into the homes and mouths of families across the country, throwing massive amounts of money into fundraising, advocacy, research, and advertising every year. They are one of the most well-known, easily recognized organizations that advocates and raises awareness for the growing community of Autistic people in America. However, can the American people really be sure that Autism Speaks is going about it in the right way? With better, faster diagnoses, disability services, and more qualified specialists, why is Autism Speaks focusing tightly on researching connections and causes and cures, rather than channeling that money into assisting families of autistic children and adults? Why do some of the salaries of their board members exceed six figures, if they truly are a “non-profit” organization? Why do some of their ads treat autism like a man in an alleyway waiting to rob someone of their happiness, their money, and their “happy marriage?” (I am Autism). While millions of Americans believe that Autism Speaks is a worthy non-profit organization, the truth is that their spending is reckless and their treatment of autistic

Autism spectrum disorders are a class of developmental disorders that impair social skills, behavior, and communication (Center for Disease Control). ASDs are considered ‘spectrum’ disorders because each patient has a unique experience in the nature and severity of their symptoms (Center for Disease Control). Under the umbrella of ASDs, there are three types of disorders, including Autistic disorder, Asperger Syndrome, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (Center for Disease Control). Autistic disorder is the most severe of the three, and patients exhibit significant problems with language, communication, and behavior (Center for Disease Control). Furthermore, people with Autistic disorder often have some intellectual impairment (Center for Disease Control). Asperger Syndrome is a milder form of autistic disorder where patients have some developmental delays, but their language and intellect are not affected (Center for Disease Control). The mildest of the ASDs is the pervasive developmental disorder. These patients usually don’t meet all of the criteria for autistic disorder, but do show some signs of social and communication problems (Center for Disease Control). The number of children diagnosed with ASD is growing, and currently 1 in 88 children fall somewhere on the spectrum (Mari-Bauset et al., 2013). Boys are four times more likely than girls to have autism, and while the exact cause of these disorders is unknown, both genetic and

“Language Impairments in Children With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder” from the Journal of population therapeutics and clinical pharmacology

Steve Silberman, also the author of "NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity," illuminates in his article "Autism speaks needs to do a lot more listening" that the organization raises millions of dollars to fund autism research yet fails to prioritize the people on the autistic spectrum. Instead of Autism Speaks devoting their efforts towards bettering the lives of people on the spectrum, he claims the organization invests more time into research which does not greatly impact the lives of Autistic people. Silberman elaborates on this assertion by first appealing to the reader's emotions by detailing the dehumanizing methods the organization has adopted, outlining corroborative facts

The definition as well as the symptoms of autism have been mentioned in the previous part of the research proposal. Symptoms of autism will usually start showing when a child is around 18months (Hourigan & Hourigan, 2009:40). The main problem concerning autism that this literature study will focus on is the delay and defect with regards to communication in the autistic child with specific reference to the classroom situation.

What if I were to tell you that there are cures for autism or even cancer? Many are aware that cancer kills an estimated 595,690 people a year. What if I told you that 5,956,900 people in a span of 10 years could still be alive, but the U.S could lose $18 billion by not medicating them with pharmaceuticals (www.cancer.org). What if it was brought to your knowledge that cancer has been cured multiple times, but the doctors, scientist, or even therapist have mysteriously died prior to their discoveries and findings.

Autism spectrum disorder is caused by abnormalities in the brain. Many children that qualify under the autism spectrum disorder, often experience developmental delays in three areas of development. Socially/emotionally, as well as cognitively, children with ASD are unable to progress at a normal rate of development compared to their peers. The level of communication due to language delays can be severely affected as well for children with autism. Children can also exhibit repetitive, unusual behaviors. Those affected by the disorder thrive on consistency, and predictability in the classroom setting. Because of the impaired language skills, visual approaches to classroom instruction are very beneficial for the students (Ormrod, 2011).

Wing and Gillberg introduced the concept of autism spectrum as the notation of three categories: the serious impairment of reciprocal communication (including but not exclusive to problems with language use), severe impairments of reciprocal social interaction, and severe restriction of imagination. However, for Carrie Cariello and many other parents around the world, the concept of autism goes beyond a set of symptoms, issues, and limitations. These parents defined autism as children blessed with extraordinary gifts usually misunderstood by the ordinary people. Carrie Cariello believes that the only way of assisting autistic children is by understanding their unique characteristics of talking without words and interpreting the world in different ways.

What were the researchers interested in? What was their hypothesis or what research question were they trying to answer?

Another strength they have can go both on being a strength and a weakness. Independent thinkers are a strength. With people with Autism having a brain on their own has them to not worry about anyone else or not letting things get to them such as bullying. This is both a strength and weakness because it can go both ways. As a weakness, people with Autism tend to face bullying and harassment. Although like stated before, as a strength these people with Autism would honestly care less what other think of and not even give the bullies any attention because they do not understand that other people also have feelings of there own.

Autism is a childhood developmental disorder that appears in the first three years of life. There are many possible symptoms individuals with autism experience. One human autistic behavior in children ages one to four is the lack of play development and social skills. Children with autism oftentimes engage in nonsocial activities while choosing to play with a restricted selection of objects for long periods of time. They tend to spend considerably less time playing functionally than children without autism (Fabienneet al., 2008). For example, most kids play “house” and use their imagination, but children with autism are likely to lack these skills in symbolic play. They would rather spend time with visual examination of just one toy or object.

Individuals with autism are often described in terms of the impairments, challenges and difficulties that affect them. When people hear the word ‘autism’, most of them automatically think of impaired communication and social interaction, of repetitive and often challenging behaviour. Others might think of sensory issues, echolalia, narrow range of interests and the lack of empathy, as well as weak central coherence and impairment of the theory of mind. The list can go on. The fact is, that one will almost certainly think of challenges and deficits rather than strengths when the word ‘autism’ is mentioned. The purpose of this essay is not to try and prove that the strengths of autism outweigh the challenges - that would simply be untrue. The purpose of this essay is to focus on the strengths, rather than the weaknesses of people with autism because identifying and promoting them can be beneficial for autistic individual’s development.

Why is teaching Social Communication important? Social Communication is the basis of how we as human beings interact with each other. Without social skills, the ability to build relationships with others would not exist. School is a social outlet for children and struggling to socialize in school can have an impact on a child’s academic success in the classroom. (Ostmeyer and Scarpa, 2012). Some of the skills that teachers find essential are listening to others, following steps, staying calm, taking responsibility for one’s behavior and doing nice things for others. To others, these skills may seem basic, but to children with social deficits, these skills could be a continuous obstacle. “Thus, an environment that necessitates social communication as a method of learning could lead to academic underperformance” (Ostmeyer, Scarpa, 2012, pp. 933). Social communication is relevant to every aspect of life, it affects student’s relationships and can make it difficult for them to understand the world around them. What can schools do to develop and/or implement programs to help lessen the quantities of deficits these students many experiences and provide them strategies to help them be more productive in the everyday world?