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Research in Clinical Pragmatics pp 59–83Cite as

Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Part of the book series: Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology ((PEPRPHPS,volume 11))

Abstract

Pragmatic language impairments are universal in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but specifying their exact nature has proven to be difficult. This chapter briefly traces the history of investigation into pragmatic skills in ASD, and reviews current research in three major areas: the development of communicative speech acts, the management of conversations, and the ability to adjust one’s language to meet the needs of listeners and situations. More sophisticated discourse such as generating narratives is briefly discussed. In general, speakers with ASD are likely to display problems in all of these areas, but pragmatic profiles vary tremendously from one person to the next. At present, no single constellation of skills or impairments can be considered to be characteristic of ASD. The chapter concludes by mentioning some of the issues that should be targeted in future research.

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  1. Communication Sciences and Disorders, Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    Joanne Volden

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  1. School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Louise Cummings

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Volden, J. (2017). Autism Spectrum Disorder. In: Cummings, L. (eds) Research in Clinical Pragmatics. Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, vol 11. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47489-2_3

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