Therapists' Expressions of Agreement in Therapeutic Conversations With Chinese Children With ASD: Strategies, Sequential Positions and Functions.

Xiaorong Zeng,Chenxi Li,Laiyun Zhang,Haifeng Li,Bosen Ma

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.792167

Abstract

Based on conversations between 10 Chinese children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and five therapists in the context of Naturalistic Intervention, this study investigated the therapists’ agreement expressions in this typical setting. The study found that (1) the therapists mainly used four agreement strategies: acknowledgment, positive evaluation, repetition and blending. These four strategies could be used individually or in combination. The first three strategies and their combinations were used frequently during the therapeutic conversation. (2) With the major occurrences in the post-expansion position, the agreement expressions in the therapeutic conversation mainly performed three functions, namely, creating a supportive therapeutic relationship, serving as positive reinforcers and implementing interventions pertinent to communication skills. (3) This study proposed that the therapists’ preferred use of agreement expressions in the intervention process could be explained by the features of Naturalistic Intervention.

Highlights

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder which is defined as “having difficulties in social communication, as well as restricted and repetitive behavior, interests or activities” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 50)
Regarding language-production skills, the therapists in this study adopted the strategy of partial repetition and modified repetition, as well as blending, to help the children communicate in a correct, complete and detailed way, as shown in the following extract: 2Due to limited space, this study provided the transcription of the first three occasions
Based on the conversations between the therapists and the children with ASD in the context of Naturalistic Intervention (NI), this study found that the therapists commonly used four strategies of expressing agreement in the post-expansion positions

Summary

Introduction

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder which is defined as “having difficulties in social communication, as well as restricted and repetitive behavior, interests or activities” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 50). During the process of intervention, the interpersonal interaction between the therapists or parents and the individuals with ASD is significant, as the intervention is implemented mainly through interaction This significance is supported by previous studies on psychotherapy interaction, doctor-patient interaction and nurse-patient interaction (Lambert and Bergin, 1994; Karpiak and Benjamin, 2004; Wu, 2019, 2021; Demiris et al, 2020; Peoples et al, 2020; Taylor and Doolittle, 2020). Due to the proven significance of therapeutic interaction, more qualitative and quantitative research efforts are needed to explore the forms, functions and the effectiveness of various interaction strategies employed by therapists when interacting with clients suffering from different disorders For this reason, the study probed into one common yet under-investigated linguistic phenomenon in therapeutic conversations with Chinese children with ASD, that of the therapist’s use of agreement expressions

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion