Pomerisch Oder Portugiesisch Sprache?¹Communicative Comprehension in Bilingual Pomeranian Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder²

ABSTRACT:

This is a study carried out with Pomeranian children diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) living in the city of Santa Maria de Jetibá, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil, known as the most Pomeranian city in Brazil, where a large part of the population presents the characteristic of simultaneous bilingualism - Portuguese-Pomeranian, which has caused some challenges in the educational context. Therefore, the objective of this research was to describe behaviors that are communication indicators, based on structured interactions in Pomeranian and Portuguese Language, enabling the identification of differences in the interactions observed in L1 - Portuguese Language and L2 - Pomeranian Language. To reach the proposed goals, three male children were selected, two 9 year olds and one 10 year old, Pomeranian-Portuguese bilinguals, diagnosed with ASD at least a year before this research and accompanied by health professionals and inclusive education. This research adopts a descriptive methodology, of multiple case study type, whose data analysis method adopted was of a qualitative character, in order to comprehend the variable subjects involved in the process of communication and interaction of each case. The procedure of data collection included the presentation of Continued Storyboards), that had as the purpose to suit as visual stimulus for the child to elaborate a story. The results indicate that in the interactions performed in the Pomeranian language, the smiles, gestures, attention sharing and demonstrations of feelings were more frequent when compared to the interactions performed in the Portuguese language, which indicates that the child presents more non-verbal behavior in interactions performed in his mother tongue. Therefore, this data points to that mother tongue interactions (Pomeranian) may act in the fortification of Attention Shared abilities, a central competence for social interactions to happen.

KEYWORDS:
Autism Spectrum Disorder; Communication; Bilingualism; Pomeranian language