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Yadira Adame-Lopez
April 4, 2020
COMMUNICATION & LANGUGE CHARACTERISTICS 2
The purpose of this paper is to identify the communication and language characteristics
of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is essential that parents, service providers
and, educators that work with individuals with ASD understand first, the communication and
language developmental milestones of typical children. Secondly they need to be able to closely
observe the child to see if they have a deficit or delay in their communication and language
abilities. We will focus on communication and language characteristics that are relevant in
children with ASD. ASD impacts the level of understanding of communication, the range of
verbal and expressive communication, unusual use of language or communication, and unusual
speech patterns of the child (Steinbrenner, et al. 2019). These make it difficult for the child to
effectively communicate.
that when given a verbal instruction the child would have difficulty following direction. Children
also have difficulty understanding questions addressed to them and will require more time to
process the information before they can give a response. They may also demonstrate difficulties
sarcasm and jokes (Pratt, Hopf, & Larriba-Quest, 2017). These are some characteristics of
receptive language.
The range of verbal and expressive communication of individuals with ASD will depend
on their intellectual and social development. Some student will be non-verbal, which means that
they would not be unable to communicate using speech or language and others will have very
limited speaking skills (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on
Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 2018). Students that are high functioning will
COMMUNICATION & LANGUGE CHARACTERISTICS 3
demonstrate advance vocabulary in certain areas that are of interest to them and will talk for long
Another characteristic of ASD is unusual use of language. About 85% of children with
ASD will develop Echolalia (Bright Tots, n.d.). Echolalia is when the child repeats previously
heard language. The initial speech, that is then echoed, may be from another person in the
environment or from a recording. There are two forms of echolalia, immediate or delayed.
Immediate echolalia occurs within second of the initial speech while delayed echolalia occurs
after a longer period of time after the first speech occurred (Neely, et al, 2015). Although
echolalia is a regular part of child development it usually fades away. It can become a red flag if
it continues past the childhood developmental period (Neely, et al, 2015). Idiosyncratic
language/vocabulary is when the individual uses language and word in unusual ways that may be
difficult to understand by the communication partner. The speaker will use familiar word or
phrases in a peculiar manner, but that is meaningful to them (Volden, & Lord, 1991).
The last characteristic for communication and language is unusual speech patterns such
speech, and odd rhythm of speech (Steinbrenner, et al. 2019). Individuals with a monotonic
intonation will sound like a robot because it does not conveys the speaker’s feeling. Children that
have a dramatic or sing-song intonation sounds happy all the time even if the situation calls for a
different intonation. According to Language and Communication in Autism when children fail to
use and understand intonational signs, then, that will likely affect the emotional tone of a verbal
exchange and also hamper its comprehensibility (Tager-Flusberg, Paul, & Lord, 2005). Deficit in
these areas can prevent the child in having a back-and forth conversation with peers.
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These are some of the communication and language characteristics of ASD. Some
characteristics such as receptive language can be more challenging to identify and can be seen as
non-cooperation from the child. The others are easier to spot because we can observe and keep
track of the behavior. Nevertheless, individuals that provide services to individuals with autism
spectrum disorder need to be familiar with communication and language characteristics in order
References
http://www.brighttots.com/Echolalia_Child_Autism.html
Neely, L., Gerow, S., Rispoli, M., Lang, R., & Pullen, N. (2015). Treatment of Echolalia in
org.libproxy.chapman.edu/10.1007/s40489-015-0067-4
Pratt, C., Hopf, R., & Larriba-Quest, K. (2017). Characteristics of individuals with an autism
from https://www.iidc.indiana.edu/irca/articles/characteristics-of-individuals-with-an-asd
Steinbrenner, J., Sam, A., Chin, J., Morgan, W., & AFIRM for Paras Team. (2019). Introduction
from https://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/introduction-asd
Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and Communication in Autism.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute on Deafness and Other
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/Documents/publications/pubs/AutismSpectr
umDisorder-508.pdf
Volden, J., & Lord, C. (1991). Neologisms and idiosyncratic language in autistic
COMMUNICATION & LANGUGE CHARACTERISTICS 6
org.libproxy.chapman.edu/10.1007/BF02284755