Language and Communication Difficulties in Autism

This essay examines the language and communication difficulties faced by individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It explores the causes, characteristics, and impact of these challenges, discusses assessment methods, intervention options, and the importance of communication partners in supporting individuals with ASD.

Language and Communication
Difficulties in Autism

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
SECTION A....................................................................................................................................................3
Body structure and impairments.............................................................................................................3
Age of onset.............................................................................................................................................3
Causes of autism......................................................................................................................................4
Language and communication difficulties in this disorder in various areas.............................................7
Methods and types of assessments will you use to assess language in individuals................................9
SECTION B..................................................................................................................................................11
Associated conditions or disabilities present in this group or individual...............................................11
Range of intervention options available to address the language and communication difficulties...........11
Strategies utilize to implement .............................................................................................................12
Role of communication partner which support the communication for group or individual................13
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................15

INTRODUCTION
Autism is a spectrum disorder that are generally present in children. This disorder
increases the difficultly in communication and understand the word. Children faces many
problems regarding written and verbal communication. Autism spectrum disorders is basically a
neuron developmental disabilities that presented in children's. This report will discuss about the
body structure, causes of autism, language and communication difficulties in different areas etc.
It will describe the social implication disorder and that affect the individual and community or
family etc. It will discuss about different range of intervention available which helps for
addressing the communication and language difficulties. There are different associated
disabilities and conditions preened in the group as well as individual.
SECTION A
Body structure and impairments
Autism spectrum disorder is a disability that impact on the body of children and their day
to day life functionality. This disorder can affect the functionality of body because they have
inability to understand the need of another (Bishop, 2014). People with autism is present with
repetitious movements and with social and communication impairments. These impairments can
range from mild to profound. This disorder will be controlled by using right treatment. Autism
children has poor ability, weak mental conditions etc. This is the fastest rising developmental
disorder in the world. This is present in both the families and societies . Autism can considered
as psychological and neurological disorder. This disease affects the entire brain system and
multiple system of body parts. There are important system that affect the metabolic such as
mitochondrial, neurological and immunological etc. This is the biological disorder in body.
Some children have some immune disorders which impact on the body and their immune system.
Age of onset
The age of onset autism is basically described in two different patterns first is onset of
prototype and another children shows abnormalities (Dollaghan, 2018). There are various
symptoms shows at the early age. Autism disorder is affecting the communication and speech
development. This is typically diagnosed with the help of treatment (Pouliot & Resti et.al.,
2017). The behavior of young and autism children’s differ from other children and there is

communication delayed and orienting name, joint attentions etc. According to survey, it can be
determined, first two year, children’s are developing their ability and another year, they can lose
their skills and knowledge. These are main symptoms of autism such as delay in communication
language, social development, speech pattern etc (reen and et.al., 2018). Despite that the
progression has been made in last century so it describing the autism symptoms and emerges
early life of children’s. There are number of difficulties increase in the life of children. This is
the complex process for handle the situation of disorder.
There are following symptoms at early age of childhood between 12 and 24 months:
 Problem in the eye contact
 No response in their name speaking
 Pointed figure to another object
 problem with non verbal communication
 poor skill in playing games and other activities
Causes of autism
There are multiple causes of autism and it can appear to be in number of different area
and circumstances such as genetic factors, environmental and biological etc. It is found that
twins children has more chances and affected on their genetically conditions, in family, one
autistic child so the chances increase that another children may or may not be autistic .
Sometimes, relatives and parents of autistic child have mild social impairments (Kalandadze &
Næss et.al., 2018). It is difficult for protecting towards the autism because it based on inherit and
genetic. According to the research, it can found that some emotional disorder is cause of autism
in families. There are following causes of autistic children:
 Rubella present in pregnant women
 Fragile x syndrome
 Tuberous sclerosis
 Encephalitis

These are important causes that could be identified according to the research for several years.
For solving the problem of autism, mercury based treatment used in rubella vaccine that help for
protecting the children before birth. Mercury is not found for longer term in Australia that’s why
some parents are concern about the vaccinations and their treatments (Magiati, Tay & Howlin,
2014).
The another causes of autism are environmental toxins and also including the pesticides,
metals like mercury, this is the major impact on the autistic children’s because it increases the
risk for developing of these toxins.
Medical intervention of autism:
There no as such medical treatment available in science but diagnose autism test help for
determine the diseases and their symptoms. ASD diagnosis involves for screening, genetic test
and evaluations for providing the treatment in proper manner. Medical intervention uses different
approaches and therapies to providing the facility for children such as
 Behavioral therapy
 speech therapy
 Occupational therapy
 physical therapy
Alternative treatments
These treatments are useful for managing autistic condition of children's :
 Physician providing the high dose vitamin for recovery.
 Chelation therapy- this therapy will help for improving the body behaviour and improve
their brain system in proper ways. This therapy involves flushing metal from the children
body.
 Melatonin for addressing to resolve the problem of sleeping.

Language and Communication characteristics in the interrelated areas
Communication and language impairment is applicable in three different areas used for
determining the autism such as diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Language
and communication impairment can be characterized with the help of lack communicative
behavior and gesture, spoken language improvement and development etc. there are various type
of challenges that are faced in autism disease (Miller & et.al., 2015). It is important for family
member to understand the difficulties of children and uses simple language so that they easily
understand and interpret. In this way, children are developing their skills of communication as
well as gesture or behavior towards their attitudes. It can use different platform such as gestalt
and analyzed phrases video scripts, animations, dialog etc. The autism can be classified in
several types of developmental disorder
Language and communication disorder are critically understood the ASD. It is modified
to the symptoms by integrating with the communication impairment. This is the issue which is
difficult for individual with the ASD. Communication and language are both occurred such as
verbal and non-verbal etc. it is social spectrum across the world, children are not behaving like
normal person and cannot speak in proper manner (Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018). Autistic
children having inability to imagine the world and assume in effective manner.
Language is source for producing sound in the form of words in the form of verbal and
non-verbal language. There are some important concepts that make easier for communicating
with one person to another.
Grammar- Grammar is concept of language and it is base of language to understand their
different number of concepts and rules. All language based on grammar(Foss‐Feig & Stone
et.al., 2017). Speaker of language have power to understand the word formations and their proper
meaning in proper manner. There are various phrases which help for constructing the correct
sentence and provide the information their autistic child.
Syntax- this is the systematic sentence that applicable different phrases at the right place. They
produce right meaning for communication, syntax is required for making correct sentence. All
language are depended upon the syntax which is generating the better sentence.

Semantics and Pragmatics- Semantics are generally based on the sentence meaning. It is also
connected with the real world object or concept. Pragmatics is based on understand the context
of sentence contribute towards its meaning.
Pre- Linguistics- language is the important part of human which helps for communication and it
covers the entire field of study. It is objective way to use scientific method for acquiring all the
theories related languages. There are following important branches which useful for
understanding the actual meaning for language in the form of psychological.
Phonology- Phonology is the phonemes that provide the specific speech sound of particular
language. This is cover the entire sounds of human and produced in the form language.
Morphology- it is a study about the words that is some specific meaning of language such as
suffixes and prefixes. It is used for making an effective sentence that is same words applicable
but their meaning is different(Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018).
Language and communication difficulties in this disorder in various areas
Speech language problem is the most common in the childhood disabilities this problem
affect the preschool children’s. Untreated language problem are significantly changed the
behaviour of person. They also face challenges such as mental problem, reading difficulties,
failure in exams etc. sometimes, parents also dropout their children in the schools but this is not
the correct solution for preventing the autism. Most of the people uses different and effective
communication medium which includes animation technique and using images to provide the
information to the children’s.
Conditions and causes Receptive communication
and speech problems
Expressive communication
problem and issues
Psychosocial risk , neglect
and abuse
Less expressive gesture in
terms of conversations and
speech, less ideas and discuss
about feelings to others.

Autism spectrum disorder Very difficult for analysing
the meaning and situations. It
is difficult for understanding
the processing, information,
integrating and
misinterpretation of society
and social uses.
Variance in speech production
and differ functionality in
non-verbal communication,
use the simple language
according to social situations
because it is more challenging
for producing language in
different forms sounds. Using
specific sentence and their
structure.
There are different type of communication and language difficulties:
 Repetitive or rigid language- This is major problem for autistic children because they
can speak something but there is no meaning for related the conversation. Autistic
children continuously repeated the word again and again. This is major problem and
issues faced by children's(Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018).
 Uneven language development- many autistic children has develop speaking skill but
there is no ability to speak in normally. The progress of autistic children is uneven. Some
times, they have learnt new thing very quickly and have strong vocabulary in particular
areas.
 Poor non-verbal communication skills- Some children's are unable d use the gesture
according to the situations like pointing towards the objects. They also avoid eye contact
towards the person and rude behaviour. This is also difficulties faced to autistic children.
Social implication of autism spectrum disorder-
Autism spectrum disorder is the major issues that affecting the child ability to acquired
the social skills. The effective intervention provide the facilities to develop their social skill
which is an essential for life long terms. ASD technique helps for improve the social outcomes
because this technique is useful for providing the therapy according to the need and requirement
of children's.

Autism is a disorder originating at the age of childhood that extremely affect the social
and development (Social communication, 2018.). Individuals with the autism is difficult in the
social engagement and communication skill. Many individuals cannot developing their language
skills and also have deficiencies in the non-verbal communication.
Methods and types of assessments will you use to assess language in individuals
The methods and types of assessment are described as under:
Screening- Screening is the spoken language which is organized when the language
disorder is suspected. This gathering information related the parents and teacher which is
concern about the children language and their skills. Administering formal screening assessment
is based on the normative data.
Comprehensive Assessment- individual is having language impairment which is based on
screening such as comprehensive, this is the most appropriate assessment with the help of speech
Illustration 1: Social communication
(Source: social communication, 2018)

language. Assessment language should be based on the skill and cultural relevant and also
involve the collaborative efforts of teacher, classroom and other professionals which are needed.
Literacy assessment is also include comprehensive assessment in the communication and
language disorders because it is useful for establishing the best connection between the written
and spoken language. This assessment is depend upon the age of child and development stage of
language (Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018)
Dynamic assessment- it is the method which is applicable in individual to test their skill
and their learning potential. Dynamic assessment helps for distinguish among the language and
language disorder which is used for increasing the language standardized and sampling.
Challenging issues in assessing this population
There are some important challenging issues faced by children and their families because
autism is a complex disease which is based on long terms. Sometimes, it affecting the entire
immune system of children. In Australia, there are large number of population that faced many
issues regarding the autism (Lumbreras & Ariel etr.al., 2018). According to calculation, it is
found that there are 20% children faced the disease of autism because of their environment and
generic system.
Autism is the process that affecting the mental health of children and this is also major
challenging issues faced by population.
Language problem and communication problem are major issues that faced by population.
Communication problem is based on spoken and child is not understand the exact meaning for
language and sentence.
Autistic child has less skill to express their feeling to another person. They also faced the body
structure disorder and their functionality.
According to situation, they can be change their mood and feeling towards the particular subject.

SECTION B
Associated conditions or disabilities present in this group or individual
Disabilities is a term which affect the children behavior and their skills. This is useful for
judging the particular significantly impairment. Each and every children has multiple disabilities
according to physical appearances and their mental ability. There are different age groups
children's that shows different symptoms of autism. This autism is based on the age of early age
to 15 year. There are different symptoms shows at the time of development.
Autistic disorder- autistic disorder is generally based on the communication and language
delays and faced many challenging issues regarding the behavior and interests. This disorder is
generally present in the age of 3- 10 year old children's. They have intellectual disability.
Pervasive development disorder- This is all about to meet the symptoms and criteria of
autism but this is not all about the diagnosed with PDD. This is the middle symptoms such as
autistic disorder and disability(Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018).
Asperger syndrome- this is based on the unusual behavior and interest, this disorder is not
based on the language and communication problem. Asperger syndrome usually present in
younger children that present only middle symptoms of autistic.
Range of intervention options available to address the language and communication difficulties
Intervention is the technique which is concern about increasing the frequency and
communication functions. There are various available evidence represent the highly structured
behavior method for convincing the children towards the positive ways. There are following
range of autism discuss:
Behavioral intervention- this approach will help for children to learn the behavior and their
skills. This technology uses different tool to provide the guidelines and encouraging towards the
appropriate behavior.
Developmental intervention- this approach is the best strategy which is used in autism spectrum
disorder. It also help for positive relationship with other people(Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky,
2018) They mainly focus on their communication skill for every day and develop their daily
living conversations.

Combined intervention- Combine intervention is the most effective concept that bring together
their characteristics of different good intervention.
Family based intervention- Family based approach is the best strategy which help for children to
provide the ideas about the family involvement towards the members and also meet the
development needs of children.
Directive intervention-this therapy and approach is necessary for autistic children to provide the
right direction and training behaving in proper ways according to the conditions. This approach
is based on the situation to improve their skills and ability.
Naturalistic intervention- Naturalistic intervention is a sequence of strategies which is designed
for identifying the problems and issues. It also helpful for provide training at early age of
childhood. Autism spectrum disorder is engaged with the behavior of children and their social
interactions.
For early age group (0- 15 years) : Family and behavior intervention are the best technique
which help for providing the right direction to the children's. Family based intervention is an
approach to find their need and requirement and then planning strategies in effective manner.
Family member easily understand their problem and always trying to improve their skills and
ability towards the world. According to research, it also concludes that these strategies are best
of children to improve their ability and capabilities. Family based intervention is an effective and
efficient for child's(Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018).
Strategies utilize to implement
Developmentally based and social pragmatic strategies are important for increase the skill
of autistic children. This approach is based on the assumptions for develop language and
communication in the best ways. Sometimes, children does not speak in proper manner so it is
required for encouraging to use simple sentence (Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018)
Afterwards, they communicate to get the intention across in order to increase their
communication ability in front of other people.
 First of all it is important for children to choose the course according to their interest and
using different materials.

 It can use sequence of communication language and teacher will provide the guideline to
identifying the intervention objectives and their goals.
 Providing the learning opportunity that naturally build their skill and abilities to interact
with the other people daily routine helps for regularity practices understanding the
sentences.
The development and individual are interrelated to each other because both the aim to develop a
symbolic and interactive communication skills which shared the affect.
Role of communication partner which support the communication for group or individual
Communication role of partner is important for autistic children because a partner will
support to use new technique for improve the skills and knowledge of child. . Families and
friends are important part of life which is required to build the confidence level of autistic
children’s.
There are important role playing in the individual life:
Parents and friends are supporting to improve their capability and they also uses different
techniques and approach to provide guidelines such as video scripting, animations, images etc.
there are essential for support the autistic child.
They also providing the suggestion and direction related the main ideas and drawing which more
preferable for understanding(Williams, Siege l& Mazefsky, 2018).

CONCLUSION
As per discussion, it concludes that autism is a complex disease that is present in various
age group. Autism spectrum disorder affecting the different age groups. As report discuss that
language and communication problems difficulties faced by autistic children's. Intervention
option for providing autistic children for improving their ability and skill towards the
communication, speech and language.

REFERENCES
Books and journals:
Bishop, D. V. (2014). Pragmatic language impairment: A correlate of SLI, a distinct subgroup, or
part of the autistic continuum?. In Speech and language impairments in children(pp. 113-
128). Psychology Press.
Dollaghan, C. (2018). Communication Disorders: Language. The Oxford Handbook of Clinical
Child and Adolescent Psychology. 177.
Green, J., Aldred, C., Charman, T., Le Couteur, A., Emsley, R. A., Grahame, V., ... & Parr, J. R.
(2018). Paediatric Autism Communication Therapy-Generalised (PACT-G) against
treatment as usual for reducing symptom severity in young children with autism spectrum
disorder: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials. 19(1). 514.
Kalandadze, T., Norbury, C., Nærland, T., & Næss, K. A. B. (2018). Figurative language
comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analytic
review. Autism. 22(2). 99-117.
Magiati, I., Tay, X. W., & Howlin, P. (2014). Cognitive, language, social and behavioural
outcomes in adults with autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review of longitudinal
follow-up studies in adulthood. Clinical Psychology Review. 34(1). 73-86.
Miller, M., Young, G. S., Hutman, T., Johnson, S., Schwichtenberg, A. J., & Ozonoff, S. (2015).
Early pragmatic language difficulties in siblings of children with autism: implications for
DSM‐5 social communication disorder?. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry. 56(7).774-781 doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12342
Williams, D. L., Siegel, M., & Mazefsky, C. A. (2018). Problem behaviors in autism spectrum
disorder: association with verbal ability and adapting/coping skills. Journal of autism and
developmental disorders. 48(11). 3668-3677 doi: 10.1007/s10803-017-3179-0.

Online:
Social communication, 2018. [online] available
through:<http://microsites.lincolnshire.gov.uk/children/schools/first-call-additional-needs/social-
communication-skills/social-communication-skills-in-key-stages-3-and-4/112470.article >