Children with autism spectrum disorder have very limited use of language and may not use language at all. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders who have difficulty expressing themselves in spoken language should be helped to acquire voluntary commun...
Children with autism spectrum disorder have very limited use of language and may not use language at all. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders who have difficulty expressing themselves in spoken language should be helped to acquire voluntary communication skills through AAC intervention. At this time, the selection of graphic symbols considering their cognitive characteristics is of utmost importance, so specific research is needed to examine graphic symbol comprehension and preferences for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. In this study, we selected four graphic symbol types, DAS, Korea AAC(KAAC), WETOK, and HANSPEAK, and conducted graphic symbol comprehension tests and preference tests to see which graphic symbol types are effective for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. I wanted to see it. In addition, because AAC intervention is generally conducted through a team approach, we investigated and compared the preferences of parents and experts together.
This study included 19 children aged 4 to 12 with Autism Spectrum Disorders, 19 typically developing children whose receptive vocabulary matched them, 19 parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, 19 parents of typically developing children, and 19 experts. A total of 95 people were targeted. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and general children were subjected to an image symbolization test, and all subjects were subjected to a preference test. The results of this study are summarized as follows.
First, there was no statistically significant difference in graphic symbol comprehension across groups(Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, typically developing children) or graphic symbol types(DAS, Korea AAC, WETOK, HANSPEAK), and there was no interaction effect.
Second, there was a statistically significant difference in graphic symbol preference depending on the group(Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, typically developing children, parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, parents of typically developing children, experts). Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders preferred Korea AAC over other graphic symbol types. Typically developing children and parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and parents of typically developing children preferred DAS, and experts preferred HANSPEAK over other graphic symbol types.
Third, children's receptive vocabulary was found to have a significant positive influence on symbolic comprehension. In other words, it was evaluated that as receptive vocabulary increases, symbolic comprehension also increases.
Summarizing the results of this study, Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders did not show significant differences in the recognition of iconicity by DAS, Korea AAC, WETOK, and HANSPEAK graphic symbol types. Meanwhile, there appeared to be differences in preferences between Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, parents of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and experts. This suggests that when performing AAC intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, parents or experts need to reflect the child's preferences or needs rather than arbitrarily selecting graphic symbols by predicting iconicity or ease of learning.
This study has clinical significance in that it examines the graphic symbol comprehension and preferences of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, the main users of AAC, and attempts to determine which type of graphic symbol to select is more effective for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.