The characteristics of language comprehension and language expression in children with autism vary greatly from individual to individual. In terms of language understanding, some autistic children cannot even understand the actual objects in life, and some can understand simple ancient poems; in terms of language expression, some are completely silent, and some children can talk endlessly about topics of interest to themselves.
From the perspective of linguistics, the language communication of children with autism has different degrees of problems in terms of speech, semantics, grammar, and pragmatics. In terms of speech, there is a particularly flat tone, lack of change, unclear bites, and too low volume. In terms of semantics, it is difficult to understand the meaning of words, especially in terms of reading, and can read many words but do not understand their meanings.
In terms of grammar, the grammatical development of children with autism is slower than that of children of the same age, and the structure of sentences is confused. In terms of pragmatics, the lack of use of language in real situations is the biggest problem.
First, the language communication problems in children with autism stem from the following four reasons:
1. Lack of intention and motivation to communicate.
Even if children with autism learn to use spoken language or movements to make demands, they may not be able to actively communicate in general situations. Induce their intentions to make them willing to respond or communicate proactively.
2. Single communication content.
Children with autism lack general knowledge and experience, and do not understand semantics when communicating with others, resulting in communication difficulties.
3. Insufficient use of language.
When communicating with others, children with autism will be unable to understand each other's communication intentions, unable to guess each other's thoughts, resulting in delayed responses or incorrect responses.
4. Difficulty in identifying situations.
Children with autism are often self-centered, have weak awareness of the environment, have difficulty integrating into the environment, and have difficulty showing appropriate behavior and proper language.
Second, the use of natural situational teaching methods to promote language communication in children with autism
Natural situational teaching is not so much a teaching method as it is a concept of language communication teaching.
(1) Under the teaching of natural situations, the language communication of children with autism should follow the following teaching principles
1. Take children's interests as the basis for training
Children's interest is the basic motivation that induces their learning, and it is easy to achieve satisfactory results with motivated learning, and for children with autism, the induction of motivation is the basis for all learning of autistic children.
2. Child-led
Autistic children are accustomed to being self-centered, and in the process of teaching, blindly asking him to cooperate with the teacher (teacher/parent), he will be very reluctant and gradually unwilling to learn. Therefore, when the teacher guides the communication, he can first give the initiative to the child, let the child decide his own learning, and then gradually transfer the initiative to the teacher and control the learning content of the autistic child.
3. Intervention of language in natural life situations
Contextual context is an important message for communication, so natural situational teaching emphasizes that communication teaching needs to be conducted in real situations. If it cannot be done in a real situation, it is also necessary to simulate a scene similar to a real situation for teaching. For example, going to a barbershop for a haircut, buying fruit in a supermarket, etc., can enable children to achieve natural generalization. Because children with autism have stereotyped behaviors and lack of flexibility, it is more necessary to provide them with more situational information.
4. The teacher is a close contact of the child
Close contacts of children include parents, family members, siblings, or school teachers and classmates. Because these people interact more with autistic children, the teaching performed by them is closer to the real and natural, and it is easier for autistic children to learn to use it later.
5.Teaching takes into account the form, content, function and learning strategy of the language
When using language, in addition to the context of the situation, the form of the language (expressions, movements, sounds, spoken language) and the content of the language (meaning) are also important factors. In addition, language learning strategies should also be integrated into teaching, such as teaching children to recognize tones, eye gaze and other skills, in order to comprehensively improve the communication skills of autistic children.
6. The teaching objectives must be functional
The learning objectives designed by the educator should be functional. For example, playing on a swing with your child, before pushing the swing, have the child say "push." Without functional teaching, for autistic children with good memory ability, they will only remember, but they will not use; only functional activity teaching can enable autistic children to have the ability to apply.
7. The teaching process is natural
Before teaching, when the teacher designs the teaching plan, the arrangement of the teaching process (anecdote, process, behavioral result) is natural. For example, if a teacher wants to teach children about vegetables and fruits, they can prepare vegetables and fruit teaching aids in advance. At the beginning of teaching, the teacher can let the child choose a vegetable or fruit that he wants to eat, after the child chooses, the teacher teaches the child to say its name, and then, teach the child to cut the fruit, after cutting the fruit, you can eat the fruit; if the child chooses vegetables, then in addition to cutting vegetables, you must also fry vegetables, because vegetables can be eaten after being fried, such an arrangement is the result of naturalness. Children can have good interaction and communication skills with the teacher through real scenes or pretend games of pretending to eat vegetables and fruits, which is natural reinforcement, and does not require the teacher to provide additional physical reinforcements.
8. Generalization is a necessary procedure
In all the teaching of children with autism, the ultimate goal is to learn to generalize skills. Educators should use the context of daily life to allow children with autism to generalize their newly learned communication skills into life interactions.
(2) Teach the teaching methods of language communication in children with autism under the teaching of natural situations
1. Demonstration
The exemplary method is often used at the beginning of the teaching. Teachers should prepare pictures, gestures, words, words, sentences, etc. according to the child's ability, teach children to imitate, with the purpose of allowing children to participate in teaching, develop basic vocabulary, and help them master interaction and rotation skills. You can refer to the following steps:
(1) Establish common attention with children so that children can "see/pay attention to" you;
(2) present demonstrations through objects or movements of interest to the child, when he is paying attention;
(3) Ask the child to imitate what he or she does, and give it enough time to respond;
(4) When the child responds correctly, give reinforcement and repeatedly practice or extend the teaching objectives;
(5) If the child reacts incorrectly, it is immediately assisted and strengthened at the same time
2. Hint-Demonstrate
Tip-demonstration is a model of mutual learning between the teacher and the child. Starting with the teacher, in the process of learning, according to the child's ability, the teacher gives different forms or different degrees of prompts. The form of prompts can be specific objects, pictures, sounds, speaking and actions, etc.; the amount of prompts from less to more, when the child has learned, the amount of prompts from more to less, gradually withdraw the prompts, so that children can complete the goal independently. The aim is to establish children's rotating conversation skills and to teach children how to describe things. You can refer to the following steps:
(2) Prompting or asking questions to respond to the child through objects or actions of interest to the child, when he is paying attention;
(3) If the child responds appropriately, reinforcement is given and the learning objectives are extended backwards;
(4) If the child's response is inappropriate, but he is interested in the prompts or questions raised by the teacher, a second prompt may be given; if his interest in the prompts or questions of the teacher is reduced, a demonstration is given;
(5) Whether it is a hint or a demonstration, be sure to give the child enough time to react;
(6) When the child has the correct response to the prompt or demonstration of the second round, it is reinforced;
(7) If the child's reaction in the second round is still wrong, a demonstration is provided and the child is asked to do the correct imitation.
3. Time delay
In the prompting process, the teacher allows the child to wait or delay the assist, through the delay of time, so that the child has more time to process the information, make decisions, and try to let the child complete the goal independently, in order to increase the interaction between the teacher and the child. You can refer to the following steps:
(1) Observe and confirm the timing of items or assistance that the child may need;
(2) Establish common attention with children, that is, let children "see/pay attention to" you;
(3) When the teacher provides a hint or demonstration, give a time delay, and when waiting, the expression or line of sight can be used as a clue;
(4) If the child responds appropriately, reinforce and extend the learning objectives;
(5) If the child's response is inappropriate and he is interested in the prompts or questions of the teacher, then use the prompt-one demonstration strategy; if he has little interest in the prompts or questions of the teacher, give a demonstration;
4. Random teaching
In life situations, when learning is initiated by children, educators seize the opportunity to use strategies such as demonstration, prompt-demonstration or time delay to guide children to learn more flexibly and changeably. You can refer to the following steps:
(1) There are items or activities in the situation that induce children's motivation to learn, so that children want to ask or want to do;
(2) The teacher waits for the child's active communication, and can wait on the side before the child responds;
(3) When the child starts to communicate in spoken or non-verbal language, the teacher looks at the child with a smile, gives affirmation and encouragement, and listens to the child's expression;
(4) After the child expresses, if the teacher is not clear about the child's intention, he can confirm the child's communication intention in the form of a prompt;
(5) If the child's request can be granted, random teaching is carried out; if the child's request cannot be allowed, the communication is suspended;
(6) The expression of the child's requirements by the teacher, extending or expanding;
(7) When the child's answer is unclear, unable to answer or the answer is wrong, the teacher gives a correct demonstration and asks the child to imitate the speech;
(8) If the child responds appropriately, reinforcement is given and the learning objectives are extended.
In promoting the language communication of autistic children, the use of natural situational teaching methods is more functional, easier to use the skills learned in life, and is not easy to trigger the emotions of autistic children, but also reduce their stereotyped behavior; correspondingly, it also improves their interpersonal skills.