Potential communicative acts in children with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

Objective: To describe potential communicative acts in a sample of 17 children with autism spectrum disorders who produced few to no intelligible words (mean age = 32.82 months).

Methods: Parents reported on children’s potential communicative acts for 10 different communicative functions. A potential communicative act was defined as any behavior produced by an individual that may be interpreted by others to serve a communicative purpose.

Results: Significant associations were found between higher number of gesture types and increased scores on language comprehension, language expression, and non-verbal thinking measures. Relative to other types of potential communicative acts, parents reported that children used higher proportions of body movement.

Conclusion: Number of body movement types was not related to child ability, while number of gesture types was related to receptive and expressive language. Findings underscore the link between language and gesture, and offer support for an ecological systems perspective of language learning.

• Autism spectrum disorders
• gesture
• potential communicative acts

Acknowledgements

We extend our appreciation to parents and their children for participation in this project. We acknowledge Dr. Rolanda Maxim, Director, Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, Saint Louis University and Dr. Eric Armbrecht, Health Management and Policy, Saint Louis University. We also acknowledge Debby Brauch and Rachel Robison, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Foundation for grant writing.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article. This work was supported by funds provided by the John Allan Love Foundation and a CVS Caremark Community Grant.