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Understanding and Addressing Social Communication Difficulties in Children with Autism

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Clinical Guide to Early Interventions for Children with Autism

Abstract

This chapter summarizes current knowledge on social communication in ASD, including the diagnostic profile, the developmental trajectory, and early intervention strategies used to support social communication. Increasing evidence suggests that social communication development in ASD takes an atypical pathway, long prior to the time ASD can be reliably diagnosed. Early emerging social communication abilities, including joint attention, imitation, and joint engagement appear to play a primary role in the genesis of later occurring social communication indicators of ASD. Likewise, early intervention strategies that appear particularly promising for positively impacting social communication are those that support joint engagement routines, and are implemented in family-centered contexts. These strategies have shown that they not only increase social communication, but can also lead to generalized and developmentally distal outcomes long after the intervention has stopped.

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Change history

  • 24 December 2020

    Mary Kate Frisch provided her valuable contribution to chapter 4 “Understanding and Addressing Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors in Children with Autism” of this book.

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  1. Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Kristen Bottema-Beutel

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. AJ Drexel Autism Institute, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Giacomo Vivanti

  2. Lynch School of Education and Human Development, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    Kristen Bottema-Beutel

  3. UNC TEACCH Autism Program, The University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Lauren Turner-Brown

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Bottema-Beutel, K. (2020). Understanding and Addressing Social Communication Difficulties in Children with Autism. In: Vivanti, G., Bottema-Beutel, K., Turner-Brown, L. (eds) Clinical Guide to Early Interventions for Children with Autism. Best Practices in Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41160-2_3

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