A General Overview of the Pragmatic Language-Social Skills and Interventions for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder, whose symptoms are usually identified early on in childhood and remain present throughout one’s lifetime, affecting the daily functioning and well-being of individuals with ASD. Impairment in social communication and behavior, in imagination and symbolic representation, as well as the tendency to maintain strict routines has been pointed out as the basic clinical features. The quality as well as the intensity in the expression of these symptoms are influenced by age and developmental changes, by the growth of intelligence and by resilience levels, as well as by early diagnosis and the intervention’s beginning, by the role played by family and parents in handling trying behaviors, as well as by choosing the appropriate educational environment, which should be adapted to the cognitive and socio-emotional needs of students with autism. This paper aims to review the psychological features creating the core of this disorder and leading the child to express autistic symptoms and mental arrhythmia. Particular attention will be paid to examining the pragmatic language and the communicative-social skills displayed by children suffering from autism spectrum disorders. Moreover, another important target of this paper is to connect theory with psychological practice, as well as to promote knowledge for psychologists, child psychiatrists, special teachers, speech-language therapists and parents, so that they can apply appropriate interventions, which have been found to be effective on the verbal, social and behavioral difficulties that children with ASD are facing.