P-341 - Using cognitive tasks to improve language impairments in persian high functioning autistic children

Abstract

Although High Functioning Autistic (HFA) children are able to produce speech, Language impairment in all conversational maxims (quantity, quality, relevance, and manner) is considered significant among them even though it can have varying degrees. However, because diagnosis of ASD is possible since the development of language, early effective interventions for HFA children can encourage more efficient communication. Given that there has been no training program devised specifically to target Iranian autistic children's speech deficiency in areas such as pronoun use, acquisition of person deixis, and pronoun-verb agreement, a multifaceted approach towards addressing the deficiency of these children is essential. Thus, in order to prepare an effective language training program for Iranian HFA children, two psychologists together with a linguist investigated contemporary research, both theoretical and practical. Qualitative methods such as applied clinical observation, made in a center for Autistic Disorders in Tehran, were also used. Findings indicated the importance of using cognitive domain, especially Theory of Mind and Verbal-semantic coherence, which could make feasible the design of appropriate linguistic tasks. In the meantime, the application of various cognitive tasks in enhancement of all areas of applied linguistics (syntax, semantics, and pragmatics) is further discussed.