Toward Neurodiversity: How Conversation Analysis Can Contribute to a New Approach to Social Communication Assessment

Decolonizing theory reveals psycholinguistic injustice in the field of speech/language pathology

Subfields of speech/language pathology (S/LP) in the Philippines and around the world are undermined by social notions of normality. Language ideologies of normality undermine developmental language assessment contexts that concern the diagnosis of Developmental Language Disorder relative to developmental language norms. Using my decolonizing theory that is in coalition with Dis/ability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit; Annamma et al., 2013a) and Crip Linguistics (Henner & Robinson, 2023), I reveal how these ideologies facilitate ableist and racist social processes that lead to psycholinguistic injustice. Psycholinguistic injustice can manifest as monolingualism, monomodalism, and oppressive notions of language disorder. Confronting psycholinguistic injustice entails honoring indigenous roots and reclaiming the languaging that was erased by colonization. By confronting psycholinguistic injustice, speech/language pathologists can figure out how to support the legitimacy of multilingual and multimodal languaging development. By resisting psycholinguistic injustice in the field of S/LP, humanizing theories, research, and practices that fundamentally place racial and disability justice can be developed. I conclude with my hopes for what psycholinguistic justice can be.

Hablando at home: Examining the interactional resources of a bilingual autistic child

Daily language interactions predict child outcomes. For multilingual families who rear neurodiverse children and who may be minoritized for their language use, a dearth of research examines families' daily language interactions. Utilizing a language socialization framework and a case study methodology, 4,991 English and Spanish utterances from a 5-year old autistic child and his family were collected during naturally occurring interactions over 10 days. Utterances were analyzed for patterns of code-switching by speaker, activity setting, English or Spanish initial language, and code-switch function. Spanish was spoken in most activities. For reading, both languages were equally employed by the father. While participants used both languages across all activity settings, significant variations in code-switching type and function were observed by activity setting and speaker. We discuss implications for how home language resources can be integrated into autism interventions.

Recognizing and Resisting Ableist Language in Schools: Suggestions for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists and Related Professionals

PURPOSE

The language that school professionals use to describe disabled students can reveal and perpetuate ableist assumptions. Professionals' language choices can also challenge ableist attitudes to help create more inclusive, equitable learning environments. This tutorial seeks to guide speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and other school professionals to identify ableist language, understand the ableist ideologies that such language reveals, and develop strategies to implement ways of communicating with and about disabled students that align with an anti-ableist stance. We offer a brief description of ableism in schools, describe models of disability and their varying alignments toward ableist ideologies, and identify ways in which language can reflect and perpetuate ableism. Using Individualized Education Program goals as an example, we examine the ways in which ableist language can manifest in school practices. Finally, we provide suggestions to guide SLPs and other school professionals to examine and change their language to better align with an anti-ableist stance.

CONCLUSIONS

School professionals' language use is not neutral and may reveal and maintain ableist assumptions about disability and disabled students. While dismantling ableism requires systemic change, we suggest that individual professionals can use language in ways that resist ableism and powerfully impact their students' educational experiences.

Material Engagement Shaping Participation of Children on the Autism Spectrum: Embodiment and Subjectivity in Small-Group Learning

This study investigated the material engagement and their affordances for participation of children on the autism spectrum (AS) in small-group learning. Framed by a methodology called Idea Diary that fosters social interactions in classroom environments, our focus was on understanding how and when the construction and manipulation of the diary supported children's participation and knowledge construction in small groups. This investigation was guided by the intersection of the theory of subjectivity developed by Fernando González Rey and enactive accounts of cognition. This framework provided the view of the singularity in the communicative process of children on the AS and the necessary support for examining the mechanisms of engagement that led to children's participation. We present two case studies of 9-10-year-old boys. Data consists of the diaries produced and used by children and video recordings of children's interactions during small-group discussions. Our analytical approach included a qualitative semiotic analysis of the materials and a micro-analysis of the social interactions. The results showed, first, that children on the AS continuously engaged in the construction of the diary, expressing elements of their subjectivity-experiences, ideas and the system through which they interact with the world. Repetition framed children's productions and signalled engagement. Second, material engagement enabled participatory sense-making, which in this study appeared in creating new communicative resources between the child on the AS and their peers and in adapting the narratives, approximating children's perspectives in conversations. Although contextualised within a specific pedagogical practice, the study contributes to advancing our understanding of the role of material engagement in social participation in learning situations involving children on the AS, particularly relevant in educational psychology and education.

'Let me tell you, I see echolalia as being a part of my son's identity': Exploring echolalia as an expression of neurodiversity from a parental perspective

LAY ABSTRACT

Echolalia is a commonly found speech and language condition in autistic children. Children with echolalia repeat words and phrases they previously hear in place of proving a non-repetitive response. In research and when visiting speech and language services, one of the common goals is to modify these repetitions so that these children may, more socially, engage with their surrounding environment. In our research, we identified that not all parents want their children's echolalia to be modified. Some parents want their child to be able to enjoy echolalia and others don't want anyone to intervene because they see it as something that makes their child unique and being unique is something to be celebrated. We believe that there might be a way for speech and language services who want to modify echolalia and the parents in our study who do not want their child's echolalia to be modified, to be able to exist side-by-side.

Natural language acquisition and gestalt language processing: A critical analysis of their application to autism and speech language therapy. AUTISM & DEVELOPMENTAL LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENTS 2024;9:23969415241249944. [PMID: 38784430 PMCID: PMC11113044 DOI: 10.1177/23969415241249944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0]

Background and Aim

Recently, there has been a lot of interest surrounding the term gestalt language processor (GLP) which is associated with Natural Language Acquisition (NLA): a protocol intended to support the language development of autistic people. In NLA, delayed echolalia is presumed raw source material that GLPs use to acquire language in a stage-like progression from delayed echolalia to spontaneous speech. The aim of this article is to evaluate NLA in light of relevant literatures to allow scrutiny of NLA claims.

Main contributions

First, we review the notion of gestalt language and situate it in the broader literature on language styles to update understanding of its significance. We then review the links from gestalt language processing to autism and identify definitional and conceptual problems and clarify the construct 'episodic memory'. We discuss the 'raw material view of delayed echolalia' and identify theoretical and empirical shortcomings. Finally, we review Blanc's language stages and their accompanying assessment and language support recommendations and challenge their validity.

Conclusions & Implications

The term 'gestalt language processor' is definitionally and conceptually troubled, the assertion that autistic people are GLPs is misleading and unhelpful, and evidence is lacking that GLP represents a legitimate clinical entity. The theoretical basis of NLA lacks empirical support. NLA stages are implausible and their accompanying assessment and support recommendations lack justification. We recommend the use of alternate, individualized, theoretically-sound, evidence-based, neurodiversity-affirming supports that are sensitive and responsive to the heterogeneity that defines autism.

A systematic review of interventions for echolalia in autistic children

INTRODUCTION

Echolalia, the repetition of others' speech, is a common observation in autistic people. Research has established that echolalia is functional and meaningful for many; however, some clinicians and researchers continue to characterise it as pathological and in need of reduction. The aim of this systematic review was to understand the range and impact of interventions for echolalia in autistic children.

METHOD

A systematic search was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A total of 15 studies met predetermined inclusion criteria. Screening, data extraction and quality rating using the Scientific Merit Rating Scale (SMRS) were performed in duplicate.

RESULTS

Ten interventions across 15 papers were found. Results indicated that interventions generally decreased levels of echolalia. However, there were considerable inconsistencies in the definitions and conceptualisations of echolalia, administration, generalisation techniques and the measures used. The quality of the studies was very low.

CONCLUSION

Interventions for echolalia vary widely in terms of administration and measurement. There is limited consensus on the definition of echolalia among the reviewed studies, and no evidence that echolalia is recognised as functional or meaningful to the autistic children. Further, the lack of methodological rigour makes it difficult to draw clinical conclusions about the interventions.

WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS

What is already known Echolalia is the immediate or delayed repetition of others' speech and is a common observation in autistic children and in some older autistic people. While research and practice has established that echolalia is a functional and meaningful form of communication, particularly for those first developing spoken communication, some clinicians and researchers continue to characterise it as problematic and suggest that echolalia should be reduced or eliminated. What this study adds We systematically searched the literature about echolalia interventions to try to find out about the types of interventions that aim to reduce or eliminate echolalia. We found 15 studies on this topic. The way they defined echolalia was varied, and there was a range of interventions researched. None of the research papers recognised echolalia as functional or meaningful and the quality of the research was very low. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Clinicians, families and researchers should think carefully and critically about suggesting any programs or supports that aim to reduce echolalia as no recommendations can be drawn from the research we studied. Echolalia should be considered functional, and efforts made to understand the meaning and purpose of echolalic speech.