ABSTRACT
Purpose:
to assess the advancement in communicative intention and cognition in children with autism spectrum disorder after applying a personalized alternative communication method.
Methods:
patients had their communicative intention and cognition (Vineland-3) assessed before and after the intervention with 10 structured alternative communication sessions. The “Demystifying Alternative Communication” podcast was developed as supplementary material to this study. Student’s t-test was used, setting the significance level at p < 0.05.
Results:
patients improved their communicative intention, with higher scores after the intervention, and no changes were found in relation to cognition.
Conclusion:
even though the patients’ equivalent age was inferior to their real age in the communication subdomain assessment, they progressed in expressive communication, language, and writing.
Keywords:
Autism Spectrum Disorder; Child Language; Cognition; Social Cognition; Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences