Language development among children with autism spectrum disorder
Assignment 3, Final Paper
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The topic under analysis in this paper is issues in language development among children with autism spectrum disorder. Language use among children, developing an understanding of language, and expressing this language in grammar and words are among the most sophisticated developmental skills that this population acquires during their childhood. Besides, language development plays an essential role in long-term academic performance, as well as the ability of children to actively engage in social and economic activities in the future. However, children with autism spectrum disorder present with unique communication challenges. Statistics indicate that more than 63% of children with autism have language impairment (Georgiou & Spanoudis, 2021). This impairment is characterized by the inability to utilize language appropriately in various social contexts. Specifically, this demographic faces challenges in using and understanding nonverbal cues, maintaining eye contact, taking turns in conversations, comprehending other people’s perspectives, staying on topic, and interpreting social situations. Besides, children on the spectrum depict limited verbal communication, which is marked by the inability to communicate their thoughts and feelings verbally, use appropriate vocabulary, and develop sentences. In order to shed more light on this topic, the paper shall discuss various issues in language development, their causes, and the implications of this information for practicing behavior analysts, including myself.
The understanding of issues in language development necessitates comprehending how children learn language first. Skinner provides a formidable analysis of how language development occurs in children. Specifically, Skinner’s theory of language acquisition holds that children learn language through environmental factors, including exposure and reinforcement (Vargas, 2007). Here, they observe and imitate the language that other individuals within their surroundings use.
For instance, consider Pat, a child who asks her mother for an orange when she is feeling hungry. Pat knows that she is hungry, and she knows what she would like to eat. She has previously observed others state what they want and then being provided that item. Pat’s mother gives Pat the orange. Skinner identifies the above concept as operant conditioning (Sturdy & Nicoladis, 2017). Here, children acquire language through operant conditioning by associating different words with their meanings and the consequences that follow their utilization. When caregivers, parents, teachers, or peers provide them with positive reinforcement, including praise or attention after saying a word, the likelihood of repeating that word in the future increases significantly. For example, if a child says “cat” and their parent responds with “Yes, that is a dog! Good job!”, the child is reinforced for using the word “dog” correctly, and this increases the likelihood of using it again whenever they see a dog. The key lesson from this analysis is that the continuation of communication behavior is highly influenced by reinforcement.
Skinner has also identified various types of language that are crucial for every child to possess as they facilitate fundamental communication. Among these languages include receptive and expressive languages. Receptive language is associated with the ability of the child to comprehend language, particularly words, sentences, and gestures. On the other hand, expressive language relates to the ability of children to leverage language to express their needs, feelings, and thoughts. Skinner argues that these two types of languages are learned through observation and imitation of others in an individual’s environment (Vargas, 2013). For instance, children can learn receptive language skills when they understand various commands from caregivers such as “Give me the ball” and expressive language skills when they imitate and use words they have heard from other people, including saying “ball” when they want to play it.
Verbal behavior is another important concept that has been introduced in Skinner’s theory of language acquisition. Here, Skinner posits that the responses of others in one’s environment play a crucial role in shaping and maintaining verbal behavior which refers to any behavior that involves the use of language to communicate with others (DeSouza et al., 2017). This insinuates that the potential of using language in a certain way is influenced by the consequences of using that language, including receiving attention, praise, and tangible rewards. However, Skinner insists that when teaching language, it is important to teach the function of words rather than just their labels. For instance, teachers should not only teach students, including those with autism to label a picture but also teach them the function of a pen such as writing to increase the understanding of their purpose. Verbal behaviors are further categorized into verbal operants such as tact, mand, echoic, intraverbal, and receptive (Gamba et al., 2015. Tact involves naming and labeling objects, actions, or events when a child gets into direct contact with them. For instance, a child may say “car” when he sees one. Mand, on the other hand, involves the ability of the child to request objects, actions, or events when they desire them. For instance, a child might say, “I want water” when feeling thirsty. Echoic involves repeating words or sounds that a child hears from others while intraverbal relates to the ability of a child to respond to verbal stimuli associated with words or phrases. For instance, responding “apple” when asked “What do you often have for lunch? Receptive is another form of verbal operant that pertains to comprehending and responding to verbal instructions. Nonetheless, as noted earlier, autism predisposes children to language development challenges.
Language development challenges among children with autism spectrum, including difficulties in communicating verbally are precipitated by several factors. Some of these factors are social disadvantages. Short et al. (2019) note that children who grow up in settings characterized by social disadvantages experience limited exposure to rich and varied language input, an aspect that has the potential of hindering language development. Agreeably, children in such an environment are unable to encounter and learn from a wide range of vocabularies, syntactic structures, and linguistic patterns, all of which contribute to the development of language. For example, consider a low-income household where parents often engage in multiple jobs to make ends meet. This reduces the time parents have to interact with their kids verbally and non-verbally through social cues, exacerbating the preexisting language deficits faced by children with autism spectrum disorder. Here, parents tend to be less nurturing and supportive due to family stress and depression, and this affects the quality and quantity of verbal interactions with the child. In the same light, low-income households predispose children to reduced access to educational resources, including books, educational toys, and early childhood programs (Attig & Weinert, 2020). From a critical point of view, educational resources, including the one named above contribute substantially to language development because they provide children with opportunities to engage in language-rich interactions, cognitive stimulation, and literacy experiences. For example, in low-income and underserved communities, schools may lack adequate funding, reducing access to age-appropriate resources for children with autism, and this limits language acquisition.
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References
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