Proposal of a questionnaire to assess communicative abilities of children with typical development and with ASD

Abstract

Autism is a complex developmental syndrome, characterized by deficits in verbal communication, reciprocal social interaction and cognitive flexibility, the pragmatic alterations of these individuals are intensely related to difficulties in understanding communication and language.Until the publication of DSM-5, the degree of severity of autism was associated with different forms of information analysis, behavior and emotions. These relationships suggest that language disorders affect in a global way the basic characteristics of ASD, such as communicative activity, social interaction and repetitive behaviors.After the publication of DSM-5, the Global Developmental Disorders, which included Autism, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, Asperger's and Rett Syndromes were summarized by a single diagnosis, Autism Spectrum Disorders(ASD) and the symptoms reduced to deficit in communication and social interaction. This change reflects the scientific views according to which those disorders are actually the same condition with different gradations.Children with ASD present impairments in nonverbal communication and understanding of facial expressions, both of which are necessary for socialization, this affects the use and proper understanding of relevant social information obtained from the facial expressions of other people. In addition, children with autism present difficulty with joint attention, imitation of actions and meta-representation.Social interaction, communication and imagination are fundamental elements for the social game and those are basic deficits in children with autism, more precisely the social processes with comprehension ability and attention shared, emotional regulation and social competence, there is also the complexity of cognitive play.This study aims to verify the sensibility of a simple questionnaire, to be answered by the parents and professionals, to identify the different manifestations of children with autism spectrum disorders and with typical development.Data analysis will seek to answer questions regarding the existence of differences between parents' and professionals' answers in the two groups, which are the answers that differentiate the groups and which are more consistent and if it is possible to identify associations between the answers obtained and the Functional Communication Profile of Children with ASD.