Percieved linguistic and communicative competence of bi/multilingual autistic children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a severe brain-related neurodevelopmental disorder compared to many other childhood disorders. ASD is a lifelong global phenomenon and it is characterised by significant impairments in social, and communication skills with some repetitive or stereotypical behaviours. This study investigated the linguistic and communicative ability of children with ASD. The study specifically focused on the nature of socio-communication traits of children with autism in KwaZulu-Natal and sought to identify ways to enhance their linguistic and communicative skills. The main research questions of the study include: (i) What are caregivers’ perspectives about the prevalence of autism in KwaZulu-Natal and among different cultures? (ii) What communication methods are being employed to interact with autistic children? What is the disposition of parents, educators, speech therapists, and clinicians in KwaZulu-Natal Province towards the development and deployment of bi/multilingualism by autistic children? (iv) What are the neurocognitive and psycholinguistics bases for understanding autism, and for enhancing linguistic and communicative competence among autistic children in KwaZulu-Natal and its implications on their academic performance? The study leaned on Theory of Mind (ToM) (including its embedded or expanded form—Explicit and spontaneous implicit ToM in ASD), Disruptive Connectivity Hypothesis (DCH), some psycholinguistic theories (Imitation, Nativism or Behaviourism Theory, Nativist or Innateness Theory, Mentalist/ Cognitive Theory/ Social-Cognitive Theory, Social-Pragmatic Theory) and some relevant neurolinguistics framework to explicate relevant concepts and the research problems interrogated by the study. An embedded mixed method design was adopted by this study, and doing so entailed research design from both quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Data were collected through two sets of questionnaires (one for the parents, and another for the educators), as well through interviews. A face-to-face method was employed to administer the survey instrument. The survey targeted parents and educators in KwaZulu-Natal with a belief that the educators have been rendering service to children with ASD for some years and therefore have knowledge about ASD and social communication skills of these children. The interviews involved few educators, the speech and language therapists, and clinicians/ paediatricians, and the interviews were conducted in 4 research sites. This helped to dig deeper and explore the subtle difference in meaning, or opinion that the questionnaire might inadequately capture, and to also aid triangulation. The selection of sample size of the study was obtained through purposive and convenient sampling. Combining these sampling methods were necessitated by the impact of COVID-19,which made recruitment of research participants and gaining access to a larger number of them more difficult. A total of 60participantsparticipated in the study (36 parents and 16 educators responded to the survey; while 8 of the educators, 4 speech and language therapists, and 4clinicians/ paediatricians)were interviewed. The respondents who participated in the survey comprised of the parents and the educators; while the interviewees comprised of speech and language therapists, clinicians/ paediatricians, and the educators. Overall, the study findings indicated that the majority of children with ASD in this study could be categorized as those with low language abilities, and there was absence of pragmatic, vocabulary, word use and sentence structure, grammar, writing, articulation skills, and discourse and conversational principles among them. Only a few of them displayed little skills in these aspects of language and communication. The study also revealed that there was absence, or deficit or delay in language acquisition, production and development of these children; and the majority of them were nonverbal. As in the above-mentioned areas of language and communication, it was found that the production and comprehension of expressive and receptive languages in either L1, L2 or L3 word use and sentence structure also had neurolinguistic and psycholinguistic underlying. The study also found that the majority of the parents, educators, and speech and language therapists used words combined with demonstrations, signs, body language, gestures, and pictures as the main methods of communicating with them. Also, it was discovered that many children with ASD were brought to school very late (up to 15 years) and also failed to receive a replica of educational services including training on behavioral and social communication at home. The study found that the majority of the parents had limited knowledge or awareness about ASD, and other caregivers or professionals like educators, speech and language therapists, and clinicians/paediatricians had little knowledge about the disorder. As shown by the study, ASD diagnosis was carried out mainly at a General Hospital, and it was found that ASD was not prevalent in one culture than the other. The study also found that virtually all participants believed that raising, training and educating these children with two or more languages would lead to confusion, and be detrimental to their cognitive ability and overall wellbeing. The study further found that an understanding that ASD has some relevant bases enshrined in neurolinguistics and psycholinguistics as well as brain functionality, may help in seeking combined or comprehensive support or services for enhancing both linguistic and communicative skills of affected children. As revealed by the study, the strategies employed by the educators, speech, and language therapists to teach and train children with ASD were sign language (including demonstration of tasks), pictures, songs and visuals. Fewer speech and language therapists employed modern audio-visuals like iPad and laptop. Likewise, only fewer educators consistently capitalized on each child’s unique strength during teaching and learning process. Routine and repetition of lessons were part of the teaching strategies that some educators employed. It was found that the majority of educators as well as speech and language therapists were not using comprehensive and unique pedagogical approaches such as all components of Structured Teaching strategies developed by TEACCH (Training and Education of Autistic and related Communication-handicapped Children), AAT (which requires visualization of everything), and ABA specifically for enhancing linguistic and communicative skills. It is recommended that high level of awareness on ASD should be made a priority by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, and KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, mass media, and professionals in any field that relates to ASD. The above-mentioned government agencies should create avenues for having more psychologists and other specialist son neurodevelopmental disorders for easy detection and diagnosis of ASD using DSM-V criteria. Parents and caregivers should seek support after their children have been diagnosed with ASD. Having the right people, information, knowledge and action in place may help these children to have chances of increasing their linguistic and communicative competence.The study further recommends that professionals that work closely with parents and children with ASD should render support in whatever capacity they can; and parents should stick to those professionals that are giving them adequate attention, which may positively enhance behaviour and social communication of their children with ASD. Earlyjoint attention should be established between parents and their children with ASD for better introduction and exchange of varied verbal and nonverbal communication cues. Importantly, parents, educators, speech and language and other professionals should understand what works well for enhancing each child’s language and communication. The use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC, a form of assistive technology) is also suggested as it has proven to enhance social interaction and communication, executive function, and cognitive capability regardless of each child’s ability in verbal and nonverbal communication. It is also suggested that a combined use of words, sign language, songs, demonstrations, and other nonverbal cues should be attempted in some cases where assistive technology is not available. The study recommends further studies on understanding other frontiers that focus on ASD within the contexts of neurolinguistics, psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic knowledge of educators, and speech and language therapists towards enhancing linguistic and communicative skills of individuals with ASD in South Africa and beyond.
English, linguistic and communicative competence, bi/multilingual autistic children, bi/multilingual
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