Autism prevalence has dramatically increased over the last 10 years, currently affecting 1 in 88 individuals. Individuals with autism face impairments in communication, with one-third to one-half of children with autism not developing natural speech and remaining non-verbal. Individuals with autism are increasingly being integrated into the educational system, within general and self-contained classrooms. A lack of research is apparent regarding the communicative techniques of individuals with non-verbal autism; thus, posing the question: how do children with non-verbal autism communicate?
This study set out to examine the communicative techniques of five individuals with non-verbal autism, in their self-contained classrooms. Participants were videotaped during three or four observational periods. Videotaped observations were analyzed using the Modified-Classroom Observation for Measuring Intentional Communication tool (M-COSMIC), which identified the communicative partner, function, role, and form used by each participant. Results showed that all participants shared the same main communicative partner: an educational assistant; and the communicative forms of eye contact and action. Differences amongst participants appeared in the utilization of communicative categories. Three participants utilized functions from the behaviour regulation category; the remaining two participants communicated using functions from the dyadic social interaction and joint attention categories.
The results of this study indicate that classroom professionals may need increased education regarding main communication techniques and communicative complexity used by individuals with non-verbal autism. As well, this study shows a gap in collaboration between educational assistants and classroom teachers, with no recognition of examining communication holistically. These findings suggest the need for further open-ended research allowing for the inclusion of all communicative forms, and accounting for the extensive factors impacting communication competence. / Graduate / 0515 / 0621
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/4652 |
| Date | 14 June 2013 |
| Creators | Ray, Melissa |
| Contributors | Scott, Daniel George |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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