Child-directed communication behaviours during mother-child interaction in children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children in south India

Abstract

Child-directed verbal and non-verbal behaviours play a crucial role in the development of communication skills in young children. This study compared child-directed utterances and pragmatic acts used by mothers of 2-4 year old children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n =50) with that of two groups of typically developing (TD) children: one matched for chronological age (TD-CA; n = 50) and other for language level (TD-LL; n=50). Forty minutes mother-child interaction during free play at home was analysed. Results indicated that the the number of utterances used by mothers in the three groups were similar. However, the type of sentences used by each group varied distinctly. Mothers in the ASD (49.1%) and TD-LL group (35.47%) predominanlty used imperatives, while mothers in TD-CA group used more of interrogatives (50.12 %). Among the three groups, declarative and exclamatory sentences were more in TD-LL group; and negative sentences were more in mothers of ASD children. Analysis of pragmatic acts indicated that mothers in ASD group initiated more and took a dominant role during the interaction, while mothers of TD children were engaged predominantly in responding to their children. The study concluded that, in addition to children's language profiling, a comprehensive assessment of child-directed speech would provide directions for child-oriented assessment and management. Considering the era of globalisation and migration, this language and culture specific findings may be of interest to several practitioners catering to Tamil population.