Communication Gaze And Autism

In this innovative book on autism and gaze from a multimodal interaction perspective, Terhi Korkiakangas examines the role of gaze in everyday situations, asking why eye contact matters, and considering the implications of this crucial question for autism. Since persons on the autism spectrum tend to use it differently and might not engage in eye contact in social situations, gaze is a crucial topic for understanding autism, yet we know surprisingly little about this topic in a real-world context, beyond psychological experiments and the research lab. Drawing on her research on authentic video-recorded social interactions, Korkiakangas shows how a multimodal interaction perspective can shed new light on gaze: what an instance of gaze does, and when, why, and for whom gaze ‘matters’, from both children on the autism spectrum and their social partners’ perspective, including teachers and parents. Grounded in the interactional tradition of conversation analysis, the multimodal interaction perspective offers a major contribution to our understanding of autism by examining communication beyond talk and linguistic resources. Communication, Gaze and Autism considers both mutual gaze and gaze aversion during talk or silence, alongside facial expressions, gestures, and other body movements, to understand what gaze is used for, and to rethink ‘eye contact’. The book includes a methodological introduction, practical tools for doing multimodal interaction research, and empirical findings. It also considers the voices of those people on the autism spectrum from the blogosphere, who suggest that eye contact has less significance for them and represents a communication difference, rather than a deficit. This book is designed for anyone with an academic, professional or personal interest in autism. It will particularly appeal to senior undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the fields of communication, social interaction and autism.

What does a child’s ability to look where another is looking tell us about his or her early cognitive development? What does this ability—or lack thereof—tell us about a child’s language development, understanding of other’s intentions, and the emergence of autism? This volume assembles several years of research on the processing of gaze information and its relationship to early social-cognitive development in infants spanning many age groups. Gaze-Following examines how humans and non-human primates use another individual’s direction of gaze to learn about the world around them. The chapters throughout this volume address development in areas including joint attention, early non-verbal social interactions, language development, and theory of mind understanding. Offering novel insights regarding the significance of gaze-following, the editors present research from a neurological and a behavioral perspective, and compare children with and without pervasive developmental disorders. Scholars in the areas of cognitive development specifically, and developmental science more broadly, as well as clinical psychologists will be interested in the intriguing research presented in this volume.

Children need effective communication skills as a foundation for successful participation in activities at home, school and in the community. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are often unable to learn social skills from environmental cues and require direct teaching and lots of practice. This collection of social communication cues will enable parents and professionals to help children with social development difficulties navigate their social world and enjoy interacting with their peers. Each section begins with a simple social rule; the reason why the child may be having difficulty in this area is explained; and easy communication prompts and practice ideas are provided. The younger these skills are practiced, the happier and more self-confident the child. This program is ideal for early intervention as it can be used with children aged 2 and up. This practical guide will be an essential resource for parents, teachers, speech-language pathologists, psychologists and therapists looking for a simple program for teaching social skills to young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Communication in Autism adopts a multidisciplinary approach to explore one of the most common developmental disorders associated with communication impairment. Perhaps the most fascinating thing about communication in autism is that variation is as extreme as it could possibly be. While some individuals with autism have age-appropriate language, a number have exceptional language skills; others have little or no spoken language. In between these extremes are individuals who experience significant linguistic impairments. These impairments can affect peer relations and literacy skills. The chapters in this volume provide comprehensive coverage of both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical aspects of autistic communication. The result is a volume that showcases the wide range of methodologies being used in this field of research. It is invaluable for scientists, service providers, parents, individuals with autism, and students learning about communication and autism (e.g., in psychology, speech pathology, and education).

From leading clinical researchers, this volume presents important recent advances in understanding and treating autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in very young children. The book is grounded in cutting-edge findings on the social-communication behavior of typically and atypically developing infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. The contributors highlight the connections between ASD and specific early social-communication impairments - including problems with joint attention, imitation, and play - with a focus on what clinicians can do to help. Innovative screening and assessment procedures are reviewed, as are evidence-based intervention and prevention strategies. Throughout, attention to both real-world practice and research considerations enhances the book's utility as a clinical reference and text.

Providing a theoretical foundation for understanding communication and language impairments specific to autism, Olga Bogdashina explores the effects of different perceptual and cognitive styles on the communication and language development of autistic children. She stresses the importance of identifying each autistic individual's nonverbal language - which can be visual, tactile, kinaesthetic, auditory, olfactory or gustatory - with a view to establish a shared means of verbal communication. She offers an explanation of why certain approaches, for example PECS, might work with some autistic children but not others. Offering real insights, the `What They Say' sections enable the reader to see through the eyes of autistic individuals and to understand their language differences first hand. `What We Can Do to Help' sections throughout the book give practical recommendations on what to do in order to help autistic individuals use their natural mechanisms to learn and develop social and communicative skills. The final chapters are devoted to assessment and intervention issues with practical recommendations for selecting appropriate methods and techniques to enhance communication, based on the specific mode of communication a person uses.

Tantam explores current theories on nonverbal communication and how it shapes social behaviour, and the evidence for it being impaired in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He shows how knowledge of this difference can be used to overcome some of the impairments in nonverbal communication in people with ASD.