This paper will discuss the topic of autism and language disorders. Autism is a condition in which the subject shows little or no inclination for social interactions with family, peers or caregivers (McCormick & Schiefelbusch, 1984, p. 99). In addition to social unresponsiveness, autistic persons tend to show an obsessive interest for sameness in their environment and ". . . often exhibit inappropriate repetitive actions such as hand flapping, rocking, or head banging" (Hecht, 1986, p. 111). The majority of children with autism show low intellectual ability as well as signs of mental retardation (MacCormick & Schiefelbusch, 1984, p. 99). Because of this factor, autistic children tend to exhibit a variety of learning disabilities. Among the most devastating of these to the social integration of autistic children are disabilities that relate to the development of language disorders. The level of language difficulty in autistic children varies widely from one child to the next. Some children may be altogether mute; others may appear to comprehend at certain times but not at others; still others may utilize odd or unusual words and phrases (Hubbell, 1981, pp. 123-124). All autistic children show signs of delayed language development. However, more essentially, researchers have found that autism is a "cognitive disorder which involves impaired coding, sequencing, conceptualization and abstraction" (Rutter, 1980, p. 148). Thus, it is important for educators and therapists working with autistic children to understand that language difficulty in autism is actually a symptom of an overall learning disability. In addition, those involved in intervention must realize that language impairment in autistic children affects all modalities of language ability, including speech, gesturing and written language (Rutter, 1980, p. 148).
One of the primary characteristics of language disorders in autistic children is poor intonation and voice...