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Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 2/2016

23-12-2015 | S.I. : Discourse and conversation analytic approaches to the study of ASD

A Multidimensional Reappraisal of Language in Autism: Insights from a Discourse Analytic Study

Auteurs: Laura Sterponi, Kenton de Kirby

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 2/2016

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Abstract

In this article, we leverage theoretical insights and methodological guidelines of discourse analytic scholarship to re-examine language phenomena typically associated with autism. Through empirical analysis of the verbal behavior of three children with autism, we engage the question of how prototypical features of autistic language—notably pronoun atypicality, pragmatic deficit, and echolalia—might conceal competencies and interactional processes that are largely invisible in mainstream research. Our findings offer a complex picture of children with autism in their use of language to communicate, interact and experience others. Such a picture also deepens our understanding of the interactional underpinnings of autistic children’s speech. Finally, we describe how our findings offer fruitful suggestions for clinical intervention.
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Voetnoten
1
It is beyond the scope of this article to trace the development of the pragmatic perspective of language, a lineage that—even if cursorily outlined—would need to span across disciplines to include Malinowski’s anthropological writing (1923), Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations (1953), and Austin’s speech act theory (1962).
 
2
In carrying out our research project we followed the ethical guidelines of UC Berkeley Institutional Review Board (IRB). Specifically, in recruiting families for voluntary participation in our study we informed them about the purposes of the research; that at any point during the study they could withdraw their participation; and that their expectations and rights to privacy and confidentiality were to be honored. Since participants included minor children and members of a vulnerable population, ethical treatment required that we collected surrogate informed consents for them in addition to the consent forms for the adults participating in the study. All personal names used in this article are pseudonyms.
 
3
In Schegloff’s words: “both position and composition are ordinarily constitutive of the sense and import of an element of conduct that embodies some phenomenon or practice” (1993, p. 121).
 
4
The MLU of typically developing children of Ivan’s age is 4.5 (Brown 1973).
 
5
While the term conversation analysis may lead anyone unacquainted with this approach to think that language is assumed as both primary and exhaustive focus of investigation, conversation and discourse analysts actually treat language as one of multiple semiotic resources that participants concurrently mobilize in the accomplishment of actions in interaction (Goodwin 2000; Muskett and Body 2013).
 
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Metagegevens
Titel
A Multidimensional Reappraisal of Language in Autism: Insights from a Discourse Analytic Study
Auteurs
Laura Sterponi
Kenton de Kirby
Publicatiedatum
23-12-2015
Uitgeverij
Springer US
Gepubliceerd in
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders / Uitgave 2/2016
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2679-z

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