Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may conceptualize language concepts differently than typically developing children and adults (McCarthy & Benigno, 2012).There is a lack of information about how children with ASD categorize language concepts.This study examined: 1) How do children with autism spectrum disorders arrange symbol representations of words from the categories a) describing themselves b) making an art project and c) birthday party?2) How do children with ASD change their organizational schemes when given a specific communication task? and 3) How do children organize concrete (e.g.cake) vs. abstract (e.g.wish) representations of concepts?Children were asked to sort picture cards wherever they thought they would go best.Children's organizational schemes were described individually and compared and contrasted.Participants also participated in a pretend birthday party.At this birthday party, they were instructed not to talk, but to use their picture cards.Findings revealed that concrete items were more easily categorized and abstract items appeared more difficult to organize.There were not any complete duplications of actual categories taken from a commercially available scheme.Although there were individual variations, family members, pets, and colors tended to be grouped together.A sorting task may benefit children with complex communication needs who require the use of augmentative and alternative communication.
Author: MacKenzie Renee Snyder
Institution: Ohio University
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2291191021