Percieved linguistic and communicative competence of bi/multilingual autistic children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
type: CreativeWork
description: 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 ed…
abstract: 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 ed…
author: Kehinde, Olumuyiwa Adekunle
keywords: English, linguistic and communicative competence, bi/multilingual autistic children, bi/multilingual
license: https://devspace.unizulu.ac.za/bitstreams/ce3ed219-8a69-4d59-ab13-2368d95e589f/download
date published: 2021
date modified: 2026-07-24T06:16:55Z
provider: University of Zululand
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Zululand