Methodology for diagnosing nonverbal communication autism. A revolutionary method of speech training developed by a mother for her son, a nonverbal autist.

Currently, various methods of treating autism have been developed that contribute to the understanding of autistic children and enable them to grow, develop and live normally in this world.

Interaction and development therapy

An autistic child is naturally curious, although it is not like the curiosity of a normal child. He is more interested in objects. Only a little piques his curiosity. You need to notice in time what will interest him. Sessions of joint play will gradually help the child reach a new, more complex level of communication.

At the moment of interaction between a child and an adult, brain activity is synchronized. If we could see the brain of an autistic child, we would notice the activation of neural networks, accompanied by the formation of new connections between neurons, forming new neural networks. This therapy has a direct effect on the architecture of the brain.

Neurons are brain cells that allow information to be transmitted. As the brain develops, neurons grow larger. Neurons connect with each other to form synapses. Synapses form and disintegrate. This provides so-called brain plasticity.

If neurons for some reason cannot connect normally, then the transmission of information in brain cells is disrupted. This is typical for autism. This happens, for example, when a person is unable to hear the human voice, but can hear other sounds. There is one contact between neurons, but not the other. But with rehabilitation therapy, thanks to the plasticity of the brain, we can hope to restore these lost contacts. Not completely, but at least partially. The same thing happens with orthophonic rehabilitation and psychomotor rehabilitation. One way or another, any psychotherapy promotes the restoration and formation of neural networks.

Autism is also characterized by the child being unable to distinguish a person's voice from other noises. Therapy allows you to better recognize human voices, so the child begins to speak better.

To evaluate the technique, scientists compared the social behavior, language and motor skills of 15 children before therapy, after 1 year and after 2 years of classes. Each of the children made progress. Signs of autism have become less noticeable.

Childhood autism is also characterized by the fact that 80% of autistic people do not look into the eyes of the person they are communicating with. Therefore, it is difficult for them to understand the facial expression, feelings and intentions of the other person. They look at the contours of the face, not the face. This is unusual because most often children look at the eyes because it is the most informative part of the face, the eyes reflect feelings and social information. This information makes interaction possible. Autistic children look more closely at objects than at a human face. In two years, with the help play activities, autistic children learn to look people in the eyes. And their brain begins to work almost normally.

Stimulating interaction with people allows you to restore information transmission networks. This promotes communication and the emergence of neural connections.

The earlier the diagnosis is made, the greater the chances of success. After all, at this time the brain changes a lot. Over the course of a year, motor skills and speech change – and this applies to any child. At this time, the brain has great plasticity. Intensive training during a period when the brain is changing so much gives the best results. Some symptoms may disappear or become unnoticeable and do not interfere with life.

If you start classes early, the child will learn to communicate with other children and will develop normally. Parents need to adapt to their children in order to help them.

The Denver Model treatment method for autism

Autistic children perceive their surroundings in a special way. They can play in the sand or play with pebbles for hours. In the Denver model, the child's interest is used to distract him from repetitive movements and interest him in something else.

A scientific experiment involving 48 children showed that children who received the Denver model made greater progress than children who received only behavioral therapy. By the age of seven they had all reached normal levels mental development and social adaptation.

“Imitation” method of treating autism

Simple imitation allows you to understand how important the other person is. It is important for seeing yourself and understanding your own intentions and actions. This allows you to awaken interest in yourself, including in an autistic person who understands that you need to do what someone else does in order to represent yourself.

What happens in the brains of two people imitating each other? Scientists have proven that when people do something at the same time, their brains also synchronize. The same “brain waves” are activated in both participants. As an exercise, you can sit two children opposite each other and ask them to make any movements with their hands and imitate each other, and it does not matter how long they imitate and how long they make independent movements. If the experiment is carried out with ordinary children, then, as a rule, the children change roles 50/50.

When autistic children participate in an experiment, they either imitate another all the time, or they always offer their own movements without imitating the other, but more often they imitate. This contradicts the common belief that autistic people cannot imitate others. It is difficult to get an autistic person to understand when another participant is ready to switch roles, and to give up his role to him, taking over his role.

Can imitation be used to connect with autistic children and help them interact with others?

An experiment was conducted with the participation of 8 autistic children. They were placed in a equipped room in which all things were in duplicate. Thanks to this, the autistic child and the teacher could simultaneously make the same movements with objects. From 2 to 4 years of age, when children do not yet speak, they spontaneously use imitation to communicate. Can autistic children do the same?

When using language or when communicating non-verbally, some kind of connection must be established. Imitation, in which two people do the same thing at the same time, allows for this connection to be created by creating a shared experience. The hypothesis was that imitation would diversify their repertoire of behavior and develop new interests.

The research was to find out how they benefit from imitating movements and having their movements imitated to improve their ability to communicate with people. Will they learn to approach people, not be afraid of them, not avoid them?

During the experiment, in some cases the children did not imitate their teachers for the first time. Then the teachers began to imitate them. The children noticed this and began to become interested. After that, they began to little by little imitate the adult.

Imitation is akin to adventure. This is an opportunity that we give to a person who is not inclined to travel and all sorts of new experiments. We give him the opportunity to travel. This not only facilitates communication, but also stimulates curiosity, the desire to know what is happening and what is around.

Over the course of a two-year imitation experiment, autistic children's social abilities and imagination improved significantly. They themselves began to choose what to imitate. And they themselves decide when to change from being imitated to becoming an imitator. They carefully watch what the teacher does and rejoice. They began to understand that they had to alternate between imitation and their own movements. This was the purpose of the experiment.

After just a month of training you can feel the difference. The child imitates more often and develops faster. Begins to be interested in something and stops focusing on the same movements and actions. He begins to engage in interactions with others and feels more confident.

Every autistic child is unique. Early diagnosis and new techniques aimed at child development allow us to hope for the best. By training doctors, parents, and teachers to recognize this disorder, we can empower them to understand these unusual children to help them connect with others.

It is necessary to allow children with autism to become full-fledged members of society - to study at school, work, communicate, create, love.

Many people with autism may have functional impairments or difficulties. Sometimes this is due to medical conditions such as developmental language pathology or apraxia. However, the most common cause is significant deficits in skill development in the areas of motivation, language processing, and social interaction. Speech delays can also be caused by serious ear infections, which could lead to hearing loss or negatively affect speech processing during critical stages of mental development.

In their practice, ABA specialists often encounter nonverbal children. The term "pre-verbal" or "non-verbal" means that the individual does not use vocal communication in a functional manner on a regular basis (the term "non-vocal" or "non-verbal" is professionally preferred because verbal behavior may include non-expressive communication eg sign language). In most cases, instead of using typical speech, such people use communication in an ineffective or inappropriate way (echolalia, etc.). They often communicate through pointing gestures, directing the actions of others, and mainly through their own behavior. Almost every therapist has encountered a situation where Small child, without uttering a word, controls the life of the entire family in accordance with his desires. Parents of such a child usually know that two cries mean “turn on the TV,” a capricious cry means “take me in your arms,” and a push from a brother means “I don’t want to play,” etc.

It is important that when working with nonverbal children, the goal is not just to teach “talk.” The goal should be the child's effective communication. Even verbal children do not always communicate effectively. The situation when a five-year-old child is taught to distinguish colors and body parts while he cannot tell an adult that he is hungry is well illustrated by the example of a child who can talk, but does not use his speech to communicate.

When you think about a “verbal” child, you need to think about more than just “talking.” How does the child communicate? Does he have good receptive language even if he doesn't speak? Does the child exhibit verbal stimulation, humming, or humming songs or melodies? Does your child scream when upset or make noise without saying a word? Based on their own experience, some ABA specialists say that verbal stimulation, frequent babbling, and displays of social awareness or attention (such as a child staring at your face when you sing to him) are good indicators that a nonverbal child will begin to speak. Children who produce echoic responses, sing songs without words, and “play” with speech sounds often make rapid progress in intensive speech intervention.

Behavior makes up a significant portion of communication. Children who lack communication skills or are nonverbal are thought to have the most persistent and challenging behavior problems. Why? Imagine being in an environment where no one speaks your language. You are very hungry, and you are trying to convince these people to feed you. How long can you communicate with gestures before you start pushing people or throwing things around?

If a child lacks internal motivation to do so, and there is no external need for communication, then from the point of view of such a child it is much easier to participate in behavior than in communication. A child who is allowed to throw his plate on the floor during dinner to indicate that he is full has zero incentive to find words, form sounds and speak.

Reinforcement is also of great importance. In order to learn to communicate, the presence of encouragement is necessary. Many parents think: " Why should we encourage a child to talk? Other kids just start talking and don't need M&M's to do it" One of the characteristic features of autism spectrum disorders is a qualitative impairment of communication. This may mean that the child is speechless, has a developmental delay, or is unable to use their existing language skills.

There are many options for teaching nonverbal children, and often BCBA therapists or ABA therapists recommend using multiple approaches at the same time. Let's talk about various methods communication training.

Verbal behavioral approach. There are many different ways to use Applied Behavior Analysis, and verbal behavior is one of the branches of ABA therapy. Verbal behavior has functional speech orientation. The verbal behavioral approach involves picking up and building internal motivation, as well as using rewards to enhance communication through verbal actions (/making a request, tact/naming objects and actions, etc.). Speech is viewed and taught as behavior, broken down into components. If a child loves ice cream, one of the first words he learns to say is “ice cream.” That is, the child’s motivation to obtain the desired object is used to form speech: he said “ice cream” - he received ice cream. This approach also uses repetition, prompting, and response conditioning to produce desired responses. Initially, the response "me" is considered acceptable for asking for the ball. Over time (and with careful data analysis), the criteria for responding become increasingly strict until the child learns to say “ball.”

Speech therapy/speech therapy. As a rule, out of 10 children with whom an ABA therapist works, approximately 6-7 children also receive speech therapy. Many parents believe that speech therapy is the only way to teach a nonverbal child to speak. Speech therapists often work with conditions such as stuttering, speech disorders, etc. For some children, speech therapy is very effective, but for others, it does not achieve significant results. It is very important that when searching for specialists working with speech defects, parents focus on speech therapists who have experience working with autism or challenging behavior. It is also necessary to pay attention to the intensity of the services offered. Many children receiving speech therapy receive only 15 to 45 minutes of speech therapy per week. For a nonverbal, low-functioning child with autism, this may not be enough to achieve meaningful goals. If a child receives speech therapy and shows significant progress, there is a good chance that his team and the ABA and speech therapist are working closely together. Collaboration between all team members is essential.

Sign language. You should always combine the verbal naming of an object with sign language so that the child can simultaneously not only learn the gesture, but also hear the necessary word. When considering a communication option such as sign language, the question usually immediately arises about the age of the child, and also about his level of development. If a child has weak fine motor skills and cannot produce various complex gestures for communication, then sign language is not best choice(although you can still teach him approximate reactions). Age at in this case is of great importance. If the child is only 2 years old and spends all his time at home with mom and dad, then sign language is good option. However, if a child is 11 years old and goes to school and then stays for clubs and attends a karate class, then all those people with whom he regularly comes into contact will also need to understand the child's gestures. If such a child comes up to his teacher during recess and gestures “red notebook”, will the teacher understand him? If children do not get a quick response to sign language, they stop using it. In addition, one very common mistake is to initially teach a child the “more” gesture, which is subsequently generalized. Children get “stuck” on this gesture, turning to adults with a request for “more,” although often adults simply do not know what they are talking about. If you do teach your child the “more” gesture, be sure to associate it with the specific object he is asking for.

(Picture Exchange Communication System). With the PECS communication system, the child learns to communicate by exchanging cards with images of objects/objects in order to receive these objects or objects. The PECS system is easy to use, can be used in a variety of environmental conditions, and can be further refined and sophisticated along the way. You can teach your child to write complete sentences, ask for several things at once, describe his day, talk to people, etc. Unlike sign language, the advantage of PECS is that the cards and photographs can be understood by anyone. This system may use pictures or photographs of objects, depending on what works best for each individual child. Another benefit of the PECS system is peer-to-peer communication. The average three-year-old may not recognize the gesture as meaning "play," but he will understand that a photo of a dollhouse means, "Do you want to play with the dollhouse?" Disadvantages of PECS include the difficulty of maintaining a full assortment of cards/photos, and the child's rapidly changing interests, which may require the card set to be updated very frequently.

Assistive communication devices. Assistive communication devices recreate a child's speech using a simulated voice. The child inserts cards or presses buttons, and the mechanism speaks. Since we are talking about technical equipment, it is assumed that the child has the cognitive abilities to independently use this equipment. However, if your family has an iPad, there are many communication apps available to non-verbal children that allow them to communicate with just a few taps of their fingers. The advantage of assistive communication systems is that they can be used by people with various physical disabilities, since they can be modified and adapted for children with problems with vision, hearing, typing, etc. Such devices are portable and allow the child to quickly express his desires, thoughts, needs and personal opinions in almost any environment.

Immersion in the speech environment. This method is usually used in kindergartens and other preschool institutions, which work with children with special needs. During the day, the child is immersed in a language environment in order to create a stimulating atmosphere conducive to the formation and development of speech. All objects are clearly labeled with pictures and words, children are engaged in conversation even if they cannot speak (“David, is my coat blue? Nod your head if my coat is blue!”), and teachers work individually with each child on turn-by-turn play skills , establishing eye contact, joint attention, etc. Such groups are somewhat reminiscent of the technique. The advantage of the speech immersion method is the ease with which this method can be used by parents with their child. This approach focuses on the developmental milestones that are prerequisites for the emergence of first words, such as babbling, recognizing distant sounds, imitating actions, responding to instructions, and communicating with gestures. Working 1:1 with your child also involves plenty of reinforcement and interaction that occurs naturally. For example, the instructor may act as if the child's babble is words and engage in conversation with the child. Describe your actions and the actions of your child, even if he does not answer you (“We are going up the steps now. Let’s count the steps: 1,2,3,4...”). While narrating, try to establish eye contact with the child, build interaction based on common interests, maintain an animated facial expression, etc.

Advice for parents . The wide range of programs, books, resources, and institutions that promise to teach language skills to autistic children can be somewhat daunting and confusing for parents. Be a critical consumer and look for proven, research-backed treatments that clearly explain how treatments work and what they involve. Ask a lot of questions! Before you pay for treatment or buy a book, have a specialist explain to you exactly how it works.

Whatever approach you choose to teach communication skills to a child with autism, it must include behavior management to be effective and consistent in a variety of environments and with a variety of people. The child must learn that Nothing, except for the communication system, will no longer work. This means that if you teach your child to use sign language to ask for cookies, he should no longer be allowed to climb up on the kitchen counter and grab the box of cookies from the top shelf of the cupboard. Make communication with you a mandatory requirement, otherwise the child will not communicate.

The child must also understand that communicating with people leads to positive consequences. If the child has just learned to ask for "juice", then at the first stage he should receive a sip of juice every time he says "juice". The child must see that communication with people quickly satisfies his needs and desires. If you have developed and implemented a communication system for a child with autism and the results of your efforts are inconsistent, ask yourself: “Is this communication system the only way for the child to get what he wants or needs?” If the answer is no, then maybe that is why you are not seeing progress.

When it comes to language formation and development, early intervention is critical. However, research shows that nonverbal adults diagnosed with autism can also acquire language skills. Older children may have a harder time learning to speak, but it is not impossible. The most promising approaches suitable for children over 5 years of age are assistive communication devices (that do not interfere with language use) and language development approaches that promote joint attention.

An autistic child can accumulate quite intensively a passive vocabulary of a nominative nature, that is, consisting mainly of nouns. At the same time, the development of phrasal speech in a child may be slow, he experiences difficulties in mastering the semantic components of speech, and cannot independently formulate his thoughts verbally. It is particularly difficult to update the verb dictionary.

In this case, you need to start working on the use of verbs and the formation of a predicative vocabulary, based on specially selected speech structures. You can learn more about the methodology for working on the structure of a simple sentence and the development of speech in children with ASD by studying the book by L. G. Nurieva ( download Nureyeva's book + visual materials can be found on the website aut-kniga.ru, or bought in a storelabyrinth). I suggest downloading ready-made cards for classes, with a description of how they should be used. Simple tasks will help the child master the deep semantic structure of a sentence of 2-3 words, introduce already learned cliche phrases into new sentences and use them in a different context.

Exercise 1

Nurieva recommends starting work on the structure of a simple sentence with verbs that denote objective actions. For this purpose, select toys in the form of people or animals in various poses that imitate the actions of people (for example, you can take toys from “Kinder Surprises”) and prepare cards with the necessary verbs (eats, walks, crawls, stands, etc. .), you can download the cards from the link below. Invite your child to pick up cards with verbs for each toy and voice what the little man is doing (“She’s standing,” “He’s walking,” etc.). Then you can ask the child to show a toy that repeats the speech therapist’s movement or to imitate the action of the toy.

Then instead of toys they take planar images people in different poses. With the cards, follow the same instructions as in the previous task. At the same time, pictures with animals and objects help to form an understanding that verbs can denote not only the actions of people, but also other creatures and inanimate objects (a plane is flying, a ball is jumping, a dog is sitting, a snake is crawling).

Task 2

You will need a set of figures and playing fields. Lay out playing fields with verbs known to the child and ovals located under them, which will serve as places for toys. The work is structured as follows: for example, you ask a child: “Who is sitting?”, He answers “the doll is sitting” and puts the doll in the appropriate place. This is how the playing fields are filled.

Task 3

An understanding of the commonality of actions of people, objects, and animals depicted in the pictures is developed. The task differentiates two verbs.

In order to understand how much the child has mastered lexical material (in this case, verbs), Nurieva recommends using tasks with verbal riddles, the implementation of which requires non-verbal voluntary activity from the student.

Task 4

In her technique, Nurieva suggests using double-sided cards, on one side of which pictures of people, animals or objects are depicted, and on the other side are printed verbs that denote the actions in the pictures. It is necessary to lay out the cards in front of the child with the pictures facing up. And then ask him questions based on the pictures. For example: “Who swims and is silent?” The child must answer the question or point to the picture: “Cow.” Then you need to immediately turn the card over and check the answer.

You can download a sample of such cards and use them for classes, or replace verbs (images and texts) if they are not familiar to your child (you can find out how to replace pictures in Word).

Sample Verb Cards

Here is a sample of several cards:

The archive contains 24 cards on verbs:

• barks, guards - a dog,
• swims, is silent - a fish,
• a horse gallops, neighs,
• blooms, grows - a flower,
• jumps, croaks - a frog,
• flies, tweets - a sparrow,
• cackling, pecking - a chicken,
• purrs, scratches - cat,
• squeaks, scratches - a mouse,
• swims, quacks - a duck,
• buzzes, flies - a fly,
• jumping, chirping - a grasshopper,
• hanging, closing - lock,
• cuts, becomes dull - a knife,
• the sun is shining, warming,
• warms up, stands - radiator,
• ticking, ringing - alarm clock,
• the bell rings, shines,
• jumps, deflates - the ball,
• dries, buzzes - hair dryer,
• the locomotive is humming, moving,
• floating, humming - a steamer.

Download verbs and cards for practice.

You can download cards for working using Nurieva’s method 2. You can download other cards - archive.

Continuation (taken from the article

Chapter 4 of the book “Speech Development in Autistic Children” by L. G. Nurieva describes examples of tasks for working on the structure of a simple sentence. And one of the tasks is to introduce words with the particle “not” that have an antonymous pair (runs - does not run, crawls - does not crawl, jumps - does not jump). I have prepared a set of cards that can be used for several tasks.

Task No. 1

Place a card with a verb printed in large font in front of the child, and place pictures of animals underneath it. Separately, put a card with the particle NOT, typed in bright color and large font. . Ask the child: does this animal fly (jump/swim, etc.)? If the answer is affirmative, the child must name the affirmative form of the verb - flies (jumps/swims...), if negative - then move the card with the particle “not” to the word and read the antonym. (Non-speaking child use pointing gesture.)

You can use synonyms (jumps - jumps, walks - walks).

Task 2

Lay out several large cards with verbs and pictograms of different meanings, indicating the characteristics of an animal or bird (flies, butts, swims) and displaying the part of the animal’s body with which it performs the action (wings, horns, fins).

Below lay out small cards with images of animals, fish, birds. Ask your child questions based on the pictures: “Who flies?” “Butting?” "Floats?" The child must answer: “The dove is flying.” "The goat is butting." “The fish swims” and place the pictures next to the corresponding pictograms.

Then you can practice antonymous options by adding a large card with the particle “not” + a card with the verb: sparrow Not butts, turtle Not pecks, toad Not bites, etc. This task will help broaden the child’s horizons, draw his attention to the fact that the way birds, fish, and animals act is largely determined by the structural features of their body.

Download pictures to study verbs with the particle “not”

To download pictures of “particles not with verbs”, go to

Introduction

Current state of the problem of developing communication skills in children with childhood autism

1.1 The concept of communication, its structure, types, main stages of development in ontogenesis

1.2 Features of communication in children with RDA

1.3 Features of the development of play activity in children with childhood autism

2.Formation of communication skills of children with ASD

1 Goals, objectives and methods of studying communication skills in children with childhood autism

2.2 Study of verbal and nonverbal communication of children with autism

3 Study of the play activities of children with RDA

3. Pedagogical correction of communication skills in children with childhood autism

3.1 Principles and methods of pedagogical correction for children with RDA

2 Formation of communication skills in children with autism using play techniques

3.3 Control experiment

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

According to modern researchers, the incidence of forms of autism in children is 40-45 cases per 10,000 newborns for childhood autism and 60-70 cases for other forms of autistic disorders. Today, due to the clinical diversity of manifestations of this disorder, as well as from a purely practical point of view in correctional work with children with various forms Autistic disorders have a lot in common, and as a kind of compromise between theory and practice, the term “autism spectrum disorder - ASD” arose, uniting all variants of autistic disorders.

In the modern world, there is a tendency to increase the incidence of autism spectrum disorders in children. In this regard, the question of the possibilities of socialization of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders is very relevant.

Analysis of the literature data showed that there are a number of classifications of childhood autism. Having analyzed their content, we can conclude that the conceptual-categorical apparatus is insufficiently clear. In Russia, the terms and concepts set out in the ICD and in the works of V.M. are common. Bashina. In recent years, the term “autism spectrum disorder” (ASD), which includes: autistic disorder, infantile autism, infantile autism, infantile psychosis, Kanner syndrome, Asperberger syndrome, etc., has become commonly used.

According to the majority of authors (E.R. Baenskaya, O.S. Nikolskaya, M.M. Liebling, S.S. Morozova, R. Jordan, L. Kanner, B. M. Prizant, M. Rutter, H. Tager-Flusberg, A.L. Schuler, etc.), one of the main disorders that impede successful adaptation in autism spectrum disorders in children is qualitative impairments in communication skills represented by the following indicators: a lag or complete absence of spoken language, inability to initiate or maintain a conversation with others, stereotypical use of language, lack of a variety of spontaneous play or social imitation games. It is emphasized that the underdevelopment of verbal communication is not compensated spontaneously by the use of non-verbal means (gestures, facial expressions) and alternative communication systems. (DSM-IV).

Specialists different countries Some experience has been accumulated allowing us to conclude that the formation of communication skills in early childhood autism is a pedagogical problem. In this regard, in recent decades, foreign researchers have identified approaches to developing the communication skills of preschoolers with childhood autism. At the same time, specialists are developing methods for correcting communication skills in children of this category.

In domestic correctional pedagogy and special psychology, the clinical condition of children who suffer from autism spectrum disorders has been described in sufficient detail, and the specific features of speech and communication of such children have been characterized. But despite this, there is a lack of diagnostic techniques that allow assessing the level of development of communication skills. Separate methodological techniques are described that are aimed not so much at the formation, but at the development of speech as a whole. (S.S. Morozova, O.S. Nikolskaya, V.M. Bashina, T.I. Morozova, L.G. Nuriev.)

The formation of communication skills of preschoolers with early childhood autism can be effective provided that a differentiated system of pedagogical correction is developed and implemented, taking into account the characteristics and level of development of these skills and including the use of gaming skills. The use of gaming techniques to develop communication skills in preschool children with ASD is one of the most effective, since play is the leading activity in preschool age.

The relevance of the topic was determined research problem: what areas in the system of pedagogical correction contribute to the effective formation of communication skills in preschool children with early childhood autism.

The purpose of the studyis the development of a differentiated system of pedagogical correction aimed at developing the communication skills of preschool children with childhood autism, taking into account their level of development and including the use of game techniques.

Object of study- communication of preschool children with childhood autism.

Subject of study -pedagogical process of developing communication skills in preschool children with early childhood autism, including the use of gaming techniques.

The purpose, object and subject of the study determined hypothesis: the formation of communication skills in preschoolers with childhood autism can be effective provided that a differentiated system of pedagogical correction is developed, taking into account the characteristics and level of development of these skills and including the use of game techniques.

In accordance with the purpose and hypothesis of the study, the following were determined: tasks:

· determine the theoretical and methodological foundations of the problem of developing communication skills in preschool children with RDA;

· identify specific features and levels of development of communication and play skills in preschool children with RDA;

· determine the directions, content and techniques of a differentiated system of pedagogical correction for the formation of communication skills; to check the effectiveness of the developed system of pedagogical correction, including the use of game techniques during experimental work

Methodological basisthe issue under study consisted of philosophical ideas about the leading role of communication in the formation of personality; provisions of psychology and pedagogy on the unity of thinking and speech (L.S. Vygotsky, A.R. Luria, V.I. Lubovsky, S.L. Rubinstein), research by M.I. Lisina, demonstrating that communication is a decisive factor influencing the mental development of a child, the concept of periodization of mental development in ontogenesis, the psychological theory of play by D.B. Elkonin.

This study is based on the idea of ​​childhood autism as a distorted type of mental development, the main manifestation of which is a communication disorder that arises as a result of affective disorders (E.R. Baenskaya, O.S. Nikolskaya, K.S. Lebedinskaya, V.V. Lebedinsky, etc. .) and cognitive deficiencies (L.Wing, D.M. Ricks, J.A. Ungerer, R. Jordan, M. Sigman, etc.) The work used a comprehensive differentiated approach to correctional work (T.A. Vlasova)

To solve the problems and test the hypothesis, the following were used: research methods:

· theoretical research methods: analysis of psychological, pedagogical, psycholinguistic and medical literature on the problem of developing communication skills in preschool children with ASD;

· organizational methods: comparative, longitudinal (study over time), complex;

· experimental methods: ascertaining, formative, control;

· psychodiagnostic methods: observation, questionnaire tests, conversations, interviews;

· biographical methods: collection and analysis of anamnestic data;

· quantitative and qualitative analysis of the data obtained;

Scientific novelty of the research. In progress research work:

-the goals and means of correctional pedagogical influence on children with early childhood autism have been determined, taking into account the needs of the child, the expectations of his family and society as a whole

-In correctional pedagogical work, consistent structured sets of activities based on the game process are introduced for successful correctional and pedagogical influence on the child, taking into account his individual needs.

-use in correctional pedagogical work as a support for the method of interaction with the child during play activities for the process of developing communication and play skills of children 3-5 years old with RDA. The choice of method is justified by the fact that gaming activities are comfortable for preschool children, which makes it possible to achieve a positive reaction to contact with the child for further correctional and pedagogical activities.

Theoretical significanceresearch is that:

A scientifically based set of modified methods for developing communication skills for preschool children with RDA has been developed. The need for the use of modern technologies in correctional pedagogical work on the development of communication skills for preschool children with RDA is substantiated.

The conceptual foundations for the formation and development of communication skills for preschool children with RDA are formulated, including significant principles and conditions for increasing motivational and moral-aesthetic basic skills in children of this age, and the formation of the foundations of communication.

Practical significance of the study:

Taking into account the individual characteristics of each child, their physical and psychological characteristics, the need for a complex impact on the body of the participants in the process, a set of modified game techniques has been developed for the process of communication skills for preschool children with RDA. The complex was tested and achieved positive results.

The provisions and conclusions enrich the scientific, methodological and practical base of institutions. The proposed set of gaming techniques is used in practical institutions by specialists - speech therapists, teachers - defectologists, teachers - psychologists.

Organization of the study.The experimental study was carried out on the basis of the State Budgetary Professional educational institution city ​​of Moscow "Small Business College No. 4" Preschool building 1.

The work was carried out in three stages:

At the first stage, the problem of the process of developing communication skills in preschool children with early childhood autism was analyzed. At this stage, an analysis of psychological, pedagogical, psycholinguistic and medical research was carried out, the purpose, hypothesis, and objectives of the study were determined. At the second stage, a confirmatory experiment was conducted, during which specific features and levels of development of communication and play skills in preschool children with early childhood autism were identified. At the third stage, formative and control experiments were carried out, as a result of which they were developed and adapted guidelines on the development of communication and play skills in children with early childhood autism.

1. Current state of the problem of developing communication skills in children with childhood autism

.1 The concept of communication, its types, structure, main ontogenetic stages of development

In the literature today there are many studies in the field of communication. The sources contain information about the types, structure and specific features of communication, stages of development of communication. Considering the most well-known approaches to this issue, there are two main ones.

Information theory says that communication is the sending of information from one system to another and the reception of this information. The main thing in this is the fact of information transfer. Communication is the act of transmitting a message, on the one hand, and the act of receiving and interpreting, on the other hand. .

Some authors take a different point of view. Those who participate in the communication process assume the partner’s activity. The interlocutor plays the role of a subject, not an object of interaction. As a result, it is important to analyze the motives, attitudes and goals of the partner to whom the information is directed. Then the logical conclusion would be that in response to the information, new information will be received, coming from another participant in the communication process. Summarizing the above, we can assume that between the participants in communication there is not just a transfer, but an active exchange of information between the subjects participating in the communication.

Also, when developing communication skills, it becomes very important to take into account the formal side, recording the transfer of information.

It should be remembered that individuals participating in communication have a direct influence on each other.

In the process of communication, interaction occurs between partners, which entails an influence on the behavior of the participants in communication and a change in the relationship between them. In this regard, it must be remembered that communicative influence occurs under the condition that all participants in communication have a unified system for encoding and decoding information. It is this aspect of communication that ensures that partners understand each other.

Many modern researchers agree that communication is a structural unit of communication. Communication is an element of communication during which ideas, interests and feelings are exchanged. D.B. Elkonin is a supporter of the opinion that communication should be identified as a separate type of activity. In addition, mutual information in the communication process leads to the emergence of joint activities.

If we consider communication from the point of view of its structure, we can distinguish three interconnected sides: perceptual, interactive and communicative. [Andreeva G.M.] Communication is an aspect of activity, and activity is a condition of communication. [Leontiev A.A.].

Communication has three important functions: affective-communicative, information-communicative, regulatory-communicative. [Lomov B.F.]

To the communicative functions that are formed in early age The following can be included: statement of fact, explanation of what is happening, expression of feelings, request for information, etc.

Researchers distinguish two types of information: motivating and ascertaining. Ascertaining information implies a message that does not directly affect the behavior of the participants in the conversation. But indirect influence on behavior remains possible. Incentive information is aimed at motivating actions and directly changing the behavior of the interlocutor.

The process of transmitting information is carried out using sign systems.

Depending on sign systems, two types of communication are distinguished: verbal and non-verbal.

Speech and language acquisition are the basis of verbal communication.

Speech is a universal means of communication. Verbal communication is most often expressed in the form of dialogue. Dialogue is a variable exchange of remarks between two or more people. Nonverbal communication - communication through gestures, facial expressions, through direct or indirect bodily contacts. Many forms of nonverbal communication are innate for a person, which allows him to fully interact at the level of emotions and behavior. For example, a child's request to be picked up can be expressed by stretching his arms. A child’s smile when looking at a familiar person indicates positive emotions.

A person is able to perceive more information about a person’s true feelings and emotions through non-verbal signals. This suggests that nonverbal communication makes communication most effective.

There are sign systems of nonverbal communication

1.Optical-kinetic system. It includes: facial expressions, pantomimes, feelings, emotions of a person and his appearance.

2.Paralinguistic and extralinguistic systems. The extralinguistic system is the rate of speech, crying, coughing, pauses, laughter, etc. The paralinguistic system includes the vocal qualities of the voice, timbre, range, and tone.

3.Organization of time and space of communication. This system is special because it gives meaning to the communicative situation. The organization of space and time of communication has the following components: direction of partners relative to each other, visual contact, distance between partners during communication.

Based on the listed components of the communication process, we can note the importance and diversity of nonverbal communication.

Verbal and nonverbal communication are used together or separately depending on the participants in the communication and the situation in which they find themselves. Researchers identify elements of communication.

1.Source (communicator)

2.Encoding information

3.Decoding information

4.Recipient (recipient)

If we consider the elements of communication more fully, we can find nine:

The sender is the one who sends the information.

2.Coding is the process of converting information into symbol form

3.Appeal - characters converted by the sender.

4.Media dissemination - channels through which information is transmitted.

5.Decoding is the process by which the recipient recognizes the characters received

6.The recipient is the one who receives information from the sender.

7.Response - responses from the recipient that occur during interaction with the sender.

8.Feedback is part of the response that the recipient brings to the attention of the sender.

9.Interference is the appearance of distortions or interference from outside, which lead to the fact that the sent information differs from what was originally sent. [F. Kotler]

The psychological structure of communication consists of:

· Communication needs

· Possibility of choice of communication means

· Ability to use dialogue skills

· Ability to play roles in the communication process

· Ability to express social functions

The elements of communication in their totality ensure effective communication at a high level.

The following parameters are identified that determine the effectiveness of a child’s communication:

Ø the ability to listen to your interlocutor;

Ø the ability to use and understand gestures according to their meaning;

Ø the presence of assistance in communication, which consists of the objects in question (images of objects, symbols, etc.)

Ø the ability to use and understand physique in a communication situation;

Ø the ability to use vocalizations and speech to express types of intonation that depend on the situation in the communication process

These conditions play a huge role in the formation of communication skills in children. Their deficiency leads to disruption of ontogenetic development and disruption of the sequence of formation of communication skills.

An analysis of the literature on this issue showed that in the process of ontogenetic development, a normally developing child consistently masters a set of certain communication skills (see Table 1).

Table 1 Formation of communication skills during normal ontogenetic development

AgeCommunication skills1 year - the child periodically imitates words; - uses gestures to express all communicative functions; - play in simple games, aimed at social interaction; - combines gestures and words to express basic communication functions; - demonstrates preferences in a choice situation; 2 years - the child uses nonverbal means of communication to initiate interaction with peers; - comments and describes current events; - answers simple questions; - asks simple questions; - comforts other people in nonverbal ways; - supports simple dialogue with adults; 3 years - the child retells a familiar story while looking at the picture; - the child transfers past experiences into a real situation when he is asked to do the same; - talks about his feelings; - periodically enters into dialogue with peers; - enters into a simple dialogue on the phone; - initiates interaction with peers using verbal means of communication; - uses body language and facial expressions to convey information; 4 years - dialogue skills are developed and improved when communicating with peers; - the child retells a familiar story, television episode or movie plot; - uses social phrases (e.g., “sorry,” “excuse me”); -understands the logical sequence of events; - understands how to respond to other people's feelings; - begins to understand the body language of the interlocutor; 5 years - the child communicates on various topics; -begins to take into account the point of view of the interlocutor; - builds a dialogue based on the needs of the interlocutor; - uses speech to negotiate with the interlocutor and come to a compromise solution.

Based on these data, by the age of five to seven years, subject to normal development, the child masters basic communication skills, which leads to his successful adaptation in the social environment. Despite this, there are cases when a child is not able to independently master the communication skills necessary for successful socialization.

One of the most striking examples of the manifestation of communication disorders and undeveloped communication skills are children with autism. It is with such children that it is necessary to work with special training aimed at developing communication skills.

.2 Features of communication in children with childhood autism

Researchers have identified communication features characteristic of children with autism, among which the following can be noted: stereotypical behavior and getting stuck on one type of activity, difficulties in understanding the communicative situation, reluctance to take part in communication with one interlocutor or with several.

Impaired communication is the main diagnostic feature of childhood autism. In childhood autism, communication impairment begins in the early stages of child development.

Interesting studies have been conducted on various expressions of feelings (greeting, surprise, feeling of dissatisfaction, demand) in response to situational emotions from the outside. Children in the prelinguistic stage with normal development and children with autism were studied. The age of autistic children is from 3 to 6 years, and the age of normally developing children is from 1 to 2 years. The study showed that parents of children with autism were able to recognize the sounds of their children's reactions and the reactions of typically developing children who had the same emotional and semantic interpretation. But despite this, it was noted that when listening to the sound reactions of other children with autism, the same parents were unable to recognize the meaning of these emotional manifestations.

These studies allow us to highlight several features:

Children with autism either do not have or lose the ability to express emotions that everyone can recognize (universal emotions).

Children diagnosed with autism express their feelings purposefully.

In order to recognize the emotional expressions of a child with autism, you need to know him well enough.

Based on research, the following communication disorders can be identified in autistic children in the early stages of development:

ü lack of fixation of gaze on the person’s eyes, avoidance of visual contact

ü lack of social smiling (reaction to mother or other loved one).

ü not a pronounced reaction to the mother’s face, sound, light, disturbance of the revitalization complex

ü indifferent or negative attitude towards other people, poor interaction

ü the buzz may be absent, monotonous, and not have a communicative meaning

ü lack of reaction to a name, weak reaction to another person’s speech or its complete absence;

ü unformed pointing gesture.

Despite the fact that the features of communication disorders at an early age are identified, their manifestation is not systematic. Based on this, some authors suggest that diagnosing autism in infancy is not fully possible.

There is an opinion that the specificity in the communication of children with autism is more clearly manifested in the second year of a child’s life. Peculiarities in behavior begin to appear by the age of one and a half years. Among the manifestations, the following shortcomings are noted: attention, instability of emotions, poor response.

Already in the first months of life, children with autism showed impairments in expressive and receptive communication. A lack of communication with parents through eye or tactile contact was revealed. It was also revealed that there were no separate reactions to changes in maternal behavior.

Observations by foreign researchers have shown that emotional disturbances, impaired auditory and visual behavior, abnormal development motor sphere in children with autism is observed in the first two years of life.

Also, in these children, deficiencies in social interaction were noticed in the form of hypotonia and hypoactivity, supported by minimal expression of any emotional reactions.

Based on these studies, we can say that already at the early stages of development, children with autism exhibit disturbances in synchronized communication, which, at this stage of development, is formed in normal children.

Based on the observations of researchers, it can be assumed that many children with autism do not develop functional speech. At the same time, the formation of nonverbal communication to compensate for speech does not occur.

Some children are still able to master functional speech, which manifests itself in basic attempts at communication. Researchers are looking at some features of expressive language in children with autism:

1.Stereotypical speech, consisting of repeated statements with no specific meaning.

2.Features of prosody

3.With formed speech, its use in dialogue is not spontaneous

4.Direct and delayed echololia

The most interesting feature for researchers is echololy. Some of them believe that echololy is a statement whose meaning is often not clear to the child. They are inclined to believe that in children with autism, echololia manifests itself when the child interacts with someone one-on-one and when establishing a visual connection.

Considering the phenomenon of echolalia, two assumptions were made:

· in cases where the child does not understand the meaning of his echolalic utterances, echolalia for the child serves as a way to enter into a conversation

· in the case when the child is fully aware of the meaning of echolalia manifestations, echolalia is used by him as autostimulation or purposeful transmission of information

Due to the multidirectionality of these assumptions, a number of researchers have found that normally developing children also go through the stage of echolalia. In this regard, we can say that echololy precedes conscious speech utterance. Based on these findings, echolalia began to be positioned as a positive stage for normal speech development.

According to foreign authors, autistic children have problems understanding speech. This violation manifests itself in the form of a misunderstanding of the signal and symbolic meaning of speech units of communication, as well as a misunderstanding of the context in which speech utterances are used.

Foreign researchers note that the main difficulty in understanding speech in a child is... That the child is unable to understand the meaning of units of speech and speech as part of a specific context.

The researchers concluded that even with visual cues, understanding speech in a certain situation given to a child is difficult. Over time, the child's ability to use language in context. Relying on previous experience, becomes possible. But as a rule, this positive phenomenon is temporary. Domestic scientists are of the opinion that impaired understanding of speech in a child with autism occurs not because of difficulties in understanding the syntactic structures themselves, but because of difficulties in mastering the connections between them, the connections between the image of a word and its meaning. Also, domestic researchers believe that one of the main reasons for a child’s misunderstanding of speech is a violation of autostimulation and behavior.

It is important to note that verbal communication impairment indicates that an autistic child is not able to communicate normally through speech.

In some situations, autistic children express their requests and convey some information in unusual ways:

· a request can only serve as a means of autostimulation;

· speech utterances sometimes do not have any communicative nature;

· For the purpose of communication, the child prefers to use echololy, but at the same time does not pay attention to the person at whom communication attempts are directed. Analysis of modern literature data and generally accepted diagnostic systems allows us to identify the so-called “triad of disorders” characteristic of children with childhood autism:

-impairment of social interaction;

-communication skills;

imagination or flexibility of thinking.

The scheme proposed by L. Wing, R. Jordan, S. Powell gives the most complete picture of the clinical, psychological and pedagogical features of childhood autism (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. “The Triad of Violations” (Wing, 1996; Jordan, Powell, 1995)

According to R.P. Hobson, autistic children are characterized by a lack of ability to perceive the emotions of other people and adequately respond to them. U. Frith also emphasizes that autistic children have problems understanding and deciphering the meaning of emotions; they demonstrate a lack of empathy, they are characterized by a lack of flexibility of thinking, difficulties in understanding the hidden meaning.

According to A.R. Damasio, R. G. Maurer, disturbances in affective activity and difficulties in assessing emotions are associated with a lack of functioning of the parts of the brain responsible for these processes. This can impede their ability to see the meaning and significance of what is happening, as well as hinder their self-awareness and, as a result, understanding of other people. The difficulty with “awareness of oneself” and the assessment of affective experiences is expressed in the inability to realize one’s own emotional states, which prevents the understanding of the mental, “mental states” of other people: their desires, intentions.

Emotional disturbances in children with autism appear from the first months of life and are closely related to disturbances in behavior, communication and social interaction. Let's consider the main stages and patterns social development in children with childhood autism.

At the age of six months, an autistic child is less active and demanding than with normal development. Some children are very excitable. They show little eye contact. They have no reciprocal social manifestations. An autistic child does not imitate sounds, gestures, or facial expressions. By 8 months, about 1/3 of children become overly withdrawn and may actively reject interaction. About 1/3 of children with autism love attention but have little interest in other people.

By the age of one year, when an autistic child masters walking independently, contact usually decreases. There is no distress when separated from the mother. In some cases, withdrawal or lack of response occurs when trying to attract the child’s attention to objects in the environment. The absence of a pointing gesture is noted. Very often, when a child wants something, he approaches a person he knows, takes him by the hand and leads him to the desired object without making eye contact.

At two years old, a child with autism distinguishes his parents from others, but does not express much affection. He can hug and kiss, but he does it formally, automatically, or at the request of another person. Does not distinguish between adults (except parents). Severe fears are possible. Typically, such a child prefers solitude.

At the age of 3 years, an autistic child, in many cases, becomes excitable. Doesn't allow other people to come near him. Cannot understand the meaning of punishment.

By the age of four, the ability to understand the rules of the game is not formed.

Unlike typically developing children, at the age of five an autistic child is more interested in adults than in peers. Often becomes more sociable, but the interaction is characterized by strangeness and one-sidedness.

According to the theory, depending on the degree of impairment in the sphere of socialization, three groups of autistic children can be distinguished: socially alienated, passively interactingAnd interacting “actively, but strangely”.

1. Social alienationcharacterized by the following features:

alienation and indifference towards the outside world (the exception is situations when special needs are met

child); interaction with an adult is carried out primarily tactilely (tickling, touching); social contacts do not cause noticeable interest in the child; there are weak signs of verbal and nonverbal interaction; lack of ability for joint activities and mutual attention; avoiding eye contact; stereotypical behavior; in some cases - lack of response to changes in the environment; moderate to severe cognitive impairment.

2. Passive interaction, characterized by the following manifestations: limited ability for spontaneous social contacts; the child accepts the attention of other people (children and adults); the child does not experience obvious satisfaction from social contacts, at the same time, cases of active refusal to interact are rare; it is possible to use verbal and non-verbal forms of communication; Characteristic is direct echolalia, less often - delayed; cognitive impairment of varying severity.

3.At "active but strange" interactionthe following features are noted: spontaneous attempts at social contacts (more often with respect to adults, less often with children); during interaction, in some cases, characteristic repetitive actions are observed: repeated repetition of questions, verbal stereotypes; depending on the situation, speech has a communicative and non-communicative orientation, direct and delayed echolalia is noted; underdevelopment or lack of plot skills role playing game; the external side of the interaction is of greater interest than the content; the child can understand and be aware of the emotional reactions of other people; the social behavior of children in this group is perceived by others worse than the behavior of people from the passive group.

Domestic researchers (K.S. Lebedinskaya, O.S. Nikolskaya) highlight four groupschildren with childhood autism, who differ in the level of maladaptation, the degree of developmental distortion, the nature of autism and the possibility of socialization. Each of these groups is characterized by a certain level of ability to interact with the outside world and, corresponding to this level, forms of autostimulation and protection. Children firstgroups are characterized by detachment from the environment, second- her rejection, third- its replacement, fourth- overinhibition in social contacts.

Foreign and domestic researchers consider the problem of social interaction from different positions.

Very interesting is the “theory of consciousness” by U. Frith, which explains problems in the field of social interaction in children with childhood autism, first of all, by the inability to understand the emotions, intentions and thoughts of other people. According to U. Frith, autistic children have no or poorly developed “theory of consciousness”: they are not able to understand what is expressed by the gaze, facial expressions, and postures of other people. Autistic children are characterized by hyperrealism; they cannot understand that people's emotions and intentions are hidden behind literal perceptions. They have difficulty understanding the behavior, actions and actions of others. For this reason they are called "socially blind". Thus, U. Frith explains the shortcomings of social interaction primarily by cognitive impairment.

According to U. Firth, deficits in social interaction in autism are largely associated with cognitive impairment.

Domestic researchers associate the problem of social interaction to a greater extent with shortcomings in the affective sphere. According to V.V. Lebedinsky, K.S. Lebedinskaya, O.S. Nikolskaya at the basis of autistic dysontogenesis are severe disturbances in the functioning of the affective sphere. The authors describe the special pathological conditions in which the mental development of an autistic child occurs: a persistent combination of two factors - impaired activity and a decrease in the threshold of affective discomfort. This is manifested in disturbances in tone, weakness of motives and research activity, rapid fatigue, exhaustion and satiety in voluntary activities, and the predominance of negative sensations. In this regard, the mental system, which is formed in pathological conditions, solves, at the level possible for itself, the tasks of adaptation and self-regulation necessary for survival. The specificity of its functioning in autism is that the primary task is not the development active forms contact with the world, and means of protection from it, which manifest themselves in the form of pathological autostimulation and involve all mental functions. Thus, domestic authors associate the problem of socialization mainly with affective disorders.

The described approaches can be called “polar”, since they consider the same problem from opposite points of view, highlighting different aspects of the same violation. However, research in recent years has shown that social interaction problems arise from a combination of two factors: emotional and cognitive.

The most legitimate point of view is the point of view of J. Beyer, L. Gammeltoft, who believe that difficulties in the areas of social interaction and communication are explained by the immaturity of the internal tendency in autistic children to perceive the social aspect. According to their concept, the perception of the surrounding world and the organization of behavior in normally developing children is carried out within the framework of two aspects: social and material. They believe that during normal ontogenetic development, the information perceived by the child passes through two channels: one of them is responsible for the perception of information about the material world, and the other is responsible for processing information about the social world. As a result of these processes, children form a holistic picture of the perception of surrounding phenomena and events. In children with autism, information passes through only one channel - material.

Children are able to establish cause-and-effect relationships through exploratory behavior and sensorimotor activity. They may retain the ability for cognitive-perceptual processing of specific information received through the material channel. As a result of this, they develop an understanding and awareness of the functions of objects in the material world. But along with this, autistic children have an unformed internal tendency to perceive the social aspect. It is difficult for them to understand the meaning and meaning of the social world - the world of “communication”. They do not explore themselves and those around them through imitation - the natural biological ability to engage in interaction and communication based on imitation. Due to these circumstances, an autistic child does not form an affective consonance with a loved one. They are characterized by an inability to process abstract information emotionally and empathically.

Analysis of various approaches confirms the position of L.S. Vygotsky that children’s understanding of the world around them is associated with two factors: intellect and feelings. The affective and cognitive spheres are equally involved in processing information coming from the outside.

The problem of imagination and flexibility of thinking in autistic children has been discussed in particular detail in foreign literature. According to V. Du ö y, imagination involves the assimilation of our impressions and the use of these impressions and objects to create meanings that are independent of the external world. M. Peter views imagination as the ability to explore and experiment with one's memories and the ability to combine ideas rationally and irrationally. Domestic authors define imagination as the mental process of forming new images by processing the material of perceptions and ideas obtained in previous experience.

Imagination is the basis of visual-figurative thinking, which allows a person to navigate a situation and solve problems without the direct intervention of practical actions.

L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinstein note that imagination plays a huge role in mental development person and performs the following functions:

1.Representation of reality in images, the ability to use them when solving certain problems;

2.Regulation of emotional states;

3.Participation in voluntary regulation cognitive processes and human states, in particular perception, memory, speech, emotions;

4.Formation of an internal action plan;

5.Planning and programming activities, drawing up such programs, assessing their correctness, and the implementation process.

Early studies by L. Kanner suggested that the level of imagination of autistic children in some cases exceeds the abilities of children with a high level of intelligence. Only in the late 1970s - early 1980s, thanks to a number of studies by foreign authors, it became clear that children with autism have undeveloped imagination, or it is developed at a low level. Let us consider the main ontogenetic stages of imagination development in normal and autistic children.

In the first months of life, the child perceives the world around him directly under the influence of his senses. As a result of this, the child forms the first internal images, which are an exact copy of objects in the surrounding world; those. the rudiments of the reproductive imagination are formed, which allows one to reproduce reality as it is. Such imagination is more like perception or memory than creativity. For many autistic children, their perception remains at the level of “photographic” impressions throughout their lives.

At the age of nine months, normally developing children are able to experience mutual, divided attention; the child’s impressions become consonant with the impressions of an adult. As a result, the child’s object images change significantly. Events occurring at this age are interpreted in the light of interaction with an adult. At this stage of development, the child is able to correlate two object images simultaneously: his own and the image of an adult. In terms of the formation of object images, the child seems to move from the “mono” to “stereo” level. The child's mental image is supplemented by the adult's interpretation. The child understands that his own images and impressions are different from another person. A consonance is formed between the images and emotional impressions of the child and the adult.

This level of perception is practically inaccessible to an autistic child. He is incapable of divided attention and “early dialogue.”

At the age of 18 months, a normally developing child is able to create flexible mental images; he is able to imagine the world around him, different from the one he sees; those. The child develops a productive imagination, which is distinguished by the fact that in it reality is consciously constructed by a person, and not simply mechanically copied or recreated. This is reflected in the child's ability to engage in symbolic play. The child has the opportunity to modify the real world, i.e. imagination abilities are formed.

Autistic children have impaired productive imagination; they are unable to form flexible images, or this process is very difficult. Foreign researchers are inclined to believe that problems in this area are expressed in the form of stereotypical behavior. M.A. Turner believes that children with autism experience an overwhelming tendency to repeat actions and thought processes in a stereotypical manner. In his opinion, they have impaired fluency of thought processes, in which normally developing children can spontaneously generate a series of responses to one stimulus. Thus, foreign studies link the stereotyping of autistic children with imagination disorders. Domestic researchers consider stereotypical behavior as a consequence of emotional disorders.

The concept of imagination is related to the concept of “creativity”. Modern literature identifies the following main indicators of creativity in the process of activity:

· Fluency of thinking - the ability to find many different solutions to one problem;

· Flexibility of thinking - the ability to see an object from a new angle, discover its new use, expand its functional application in practice;

· Originality - the ability to generate non-standard, unique ideas;

· Elaboration (accuracy) - the ability to develop an idea in detail.

According to L. Wing, autistic children show impairments in all indicators of creativity, especially flexibility of thinking. As a result, they find themselves unable to look at the current situation from a different perspective, to generate various creative ideas, the process of transferring developed skills to a new situation is difficult for them, and they are unable to create analogies and associations, including verbal ones. These specific features have a negative impact on the child’s behavior, which becomes stereotypical, with monotonous, repetitive actions. The problem of imagination in autistic children concerns, first of all, play activities, which are also characterized by stereotyping and the absence of symbolic play.

Thus, in autism there are disturbances in behavior, social interaction, and communication caused by a combination of cognitive and emotional deficiencies. According to researchers, the “triad of disorders” manifests itself in the form of specific features of the play activity of children with autism, therefore it is necessary to consider the problem of the development of play activity in childhood autism.

These features serve as confirmation that the child is not able to communicate due to a lack of understanding by those around him.

It is worth noting another important deficiency in the communication of a child with autism. This shortcoming is the inability to dialogue. And, consequently, the difficulty in determining the communicative roles in it.

When a dialogue does occur, the child finds it difficult to establish a relationship with the interlocutor. Regarding the topic of conversation during dialogue and its direction for the child, these phenomena often become incomprehensible and do not carry any meaning.

Children with autism have impairments in nonverbal communication. Children with autism do not show sufficient interest in hugs and tactile contact, even in infancy. They clearly demonstrate disturbances in contact with their own mother through gaze.

With autism, a child has limited ability to imitate the actions of an adult. The researchers focused on the fact that understanding facial expressions, facial expressions, gestures, and as a result of all this, expressing emotions and transmitting any information using non-verbal means becomes practically impossible for a child.

According to many authors, in a child with autism one can notice disturbances in vocal manifestations expressed in whispered speech and peculiarities of intonation. As for the problems of organizing the space of the communication process, their manifestation occurs due to shortcomings in understanding the rules of social behavior, and problems of this nature are manifested in failure to maintain distance, lack of ability to dialogue face to face with a partner.

In autism, social impairments are pronounced: inability to adequately respond to the emotions of others, poor expression of one’s own, minimal level of interaction with others.

Many researchers, along with impairments in communication and socialization of children with autism, note cognitive deficiencies. Such shortcomings manifest themselves, first of all, in a lack of understanding of the meaning and functions of surrounding objects. In turn, it is the understanding of these meanings and functions that is the catalyst for normal speech development. Children with autism have the ability to use objects not for their intended purpose, namely to perform stereotypical actions with them, such as: boredom, tossing, transferring from hand to hand, spinning, arranging objects in a certain order, etc.

Children with autism have difficulty grasping cause-and-effect relationships and do not understand them. That certain actions with objects can lead to the final result. At the same time, these violations are projected onto the formation of communication skills. An autistic person cannot understand. That speech utterances can lead to changes in the behavior of the interlocutor.

Children with autism have limited abstraction abilities, which affects their understanding of the structure of language and other symbolic systems. Children have difficulties in understanding speech and using it purposefully, and difficulties in establishing a connection between an event and a word directly.

It can also be noted that violations of the child’s cognitive sphere manifest themselves in the inability to perform symbolic play. Children with autism have difficulty transferring communication skills from one given situation to another.

There are a significant number of methods that allow us to identify specific features of communicative and social behavior and assess the level of development of communicative and social skills of autistic children. Qualitative analysis This group of techniques allows us to divide them conditionally into several subgroups:

1. Diagnostic scales that allow you to identify autistic disorders, social, communication and behavioral deficiencies in a child.This group of techniques includes the diagnostic card developed by K.S. Lebedinskaya and O.S. Nikolskaya, which allows a detailed examination of a child of two years of age if he is suspected of having childhood autism. It is aimed at identifying features in the development of all areas of a child with childhood autism: vegetative-instinctive, affective, drives, communication, perception, motor skills, intellectual development, speech, play activities, social behavior skills, psychosomatic correlations.

2. Adaptive behavior scales - standardized methods,designed to assess adaptive skills and identify the level of development of social, communication, motor skills, as well as self-care skills and behavioral characteristics of children with developmental disabilities. The most commonly used methods are: Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale; Assessment of children's adaptive behavior.

3. Methods intended for assessing the level of development of children with autism and planning correctional and pedagogical interventions -Psychological and pedagogical profile. This group also includes methods aimed at identifying the level of development of the communication skills of children with autism and allowing one to outline directions, goals and objectives correctional work: Assessing social and communication skills in children with autism; A technique developed within the framework of the program “Teaching Spontaneous Communication of Autistic Children and Children with Developmental Disabilities.”

4. Methods designed to assess the level of nonverbal communication in infants and young children.The Communicative and Symbolic Behavior Scale assesses communication and symbolic skills 8 - 24-month-old child, including gestural communication, vocalizations, interaction, affective signals in various communicative situations. The questionnaire, designed to diagnose autism in children aged 18 months, includes the sections: social interests, divided attention, gestural communication and play.

In order to develop communication skills in children with autism, three main approaches are being developed in foreign special pedagogy and psychology: psychoanalytic, behavioristAnd psycholinguistic.

IN psychoanalytic approach, which dominated the 1950s and 1960s, the language of autistic children was seen as a means of expressing conflicts that psychoanalysts believed were the cause of their autistic symptoms. For example, L. Jackson viewed autism in general, and lack of response to social stimuli in particular, as a defense mechanism in response to what is perceived as extreme danger.

Psychoanalytic approaches did not consider language as a goal of therapy. Analysis of the speech of autistic children was important in determining the nature of their internal conflicts. At the same time, the goal of therapy was to resolve these internal conflicts related to self-awareness. It was believed that as knowledge and ideas about oneself expanded, the child’s speech changed and became more adequate.

Domestic scientists do not agree with this point of view and believe that targeted training is necessary when developing communication skills in autistic children.

Behaviorist approachto the formation of communication skills in children with autism originated in the first half of the 1960s. Proponents of this approach made early efforts to develop speech and language skills in autistic children using operant conditioning techniques. Programs in this area began mainly with teaching a child to sit on a chair for a certain period of time, establish eye contact according to instructions and imitate the movements of an adult. Then the child was taught to imitate individual sounds, words and understand the meaning of words: the child had to choose the appropriate object or picture in response to the teacher’s verbal instructions. After this, the child was taught to name objects, pictures, or their features in response to a verbal stimulus (for example, “What is this?” or “Where is the block?”). A child who had mastered these skills was taught to answer questions in the form of simple phrases (for example, “This is a ball” or “The cube is in the box”). In behaviorist programs, stimulus conditions, learning contexts, and prompts were developed in detail; Great emphasis was placed on reinforcing correct responses. The earliest of these programs taught children to use relevant language concepts in the context of structured therapeutic sessions. At the same time, the issue of applying the acquired communication skills in Everyday life.autism pedagogical children

The main problem was that children were not capable of spontaneous transfer and did not use the learned skills in natural settings to transfer information. This led to some changes in programs. More and more emphasis has been placed on the concept of "functionality" of communication skills in everyday life. In this regard, much attention began to be paid to the “natural consolidation” of the skill, which is very important when working with autistic children.

To develop communication skills, supporters of the behaviorist direction recommend using a large number of varied tasks with the participation of several people.

Particularly effective is the “accompanying learning” technique, which allows children to learn communication skills within naturally occurring situations. Thus, the educational process is based on the personal interests and needs of the child, which leads to increased learning efficiency. Despite the obvious advantages, accompanying learning has not been widely used in modern pedagogy and psychology.

Another direction in the development of behaviorist approaches is training in the use of alternative communication systems: gestures, vocalizations, pictures, pictograms, written speech. The emergence of alternative communication systems was associated with the need to educate autistic children who could not master communication skills using the technique of “behaviorist modification.” Alternative means allow many non-verbal autistic children to acquire a specific set of communication skills.

Very interesting is psycholinguistic approach, which has become widespread abroad. Its peculiarity is that researchers study the ontogenetic development of normal children and apply this knowledge when studying and teaching autistic children. They compare the sequence of acquisition of communication skills in normal conditions and in autism, and consider the relationship and relationship between the levels of linguistic, cognitive and social development of an autistic child. The earliest research in this area focused on the syntactic structure of the language of autistic children. Then interest increased in the study of semantic aspects, i.e. the meaning of speech units of communication. Most recent research has focused on the pragmatic aspects of language. Questions were examined about the ability of autistic children to use language according to its meaning in various social contexts.

.3 Features of the development of play activity in ontogenesis in children with childhood autism

Most authors associate communication skills and the development of language ability in children with early childhood autism with a violation of cognitive processes. The lack of development of symbolic play skills in an autistic person is a direct sign of communication disorders.

If we rely on one of the well-known theories of J. Piaget, then we can say that it depends on the child’s ability to perceive and process information. The formation of his speech, and therefore his communicative ability, directly depends on the knowledge of the signs and properties of objects. It can also be noted. That the process of manipulating objects is closely related to the development of thinking (L.S. Vygotsky, A.R. Luria, V.I. Lubovsky)

Researchers claim that there is a relationship between the development of gaming skills and communication skills. In this regard, it becomes necessary to consider the features of gaming activity.

In the early stages of development, the main activity for a child is emotional interaction with adults. Based on this, the first object for play manipulation is the adult himself who is with the child.

In the first six months of a child’s life, play represents a special type of communication for him, in which the child begins to use nonverbal means of communication. This indicates the manifestation of situational and personal communication.

In the second half of the year, the child has a need to interact with an adult based on playful manipulations involving various objects.

At the age of 1-3 years, object-manipulative activity becomes leading

Researchers identify three phases of the formation of substantive activity

I phase - free manipulation - the child performs an action with an object that is free in nature.

II phase - functional actions - the child performs the action.

Corresponding functions of the item.

III phase - the child uses the object at will, while being aware of its function. (L.S. Vygodsky, D.B. Elkonin)

Object-manipulative activities develop the cognitive sphere and orientation in space.

In preschool age, the role-playing game becomes the leading one; it is aimed personal development child, helps the child master the features of interpersonal relationships. In the process of this type of games, children master the features of non-situational forms of communication by playing out situations of social interaction.

In the process of role-playing play, a child can take on the roles of adults and partially reproduce their actions with the help of substitute objects.

If we consider the classifications of games, then for studying the social and communicative significance of the stages of development of gaming activity for a child, the most suitable classification is the classification of Western researchers.

1.Combination game-child explores the properties of objects. Items are not used for their intended purpose. The toys are placed inside each other, in one line, on top of each other. This type of play is typical for children aged 6 to 9 months. This type of games not only forms in the child an awareness of his own actions.

2.Functional play - during this type of play, the child realizes the meaning of objects, trying to use them for their intended purpose. Play skills are formed in a child in the second year of life. The child begins to imitate the subject orientation of adults.