Autism and Language

Emma-Louise Downe


http://prezi.com/me0d6hyrllep/edit/#57_53746387

What is it about?
What is the difference in language acquisition
between autistic and non-autistic children?

Key focus points:
How language acquisition is impeded by autism
The symptoms and help associated with ASD
Therapies and help for ASD


Questions I plan to address
What changes does autism make to each
area of language development:
Phonological
Lexical and semantics
Grammatical
Pragmatics, etc
What comparisons can be drawn from
childrens language with and without ASD?
What about communication skills?
Why am I studying this?
Intrinsic worth
David Crystal talks & books
Something common to everyone
University course of Language and Linguistic
Science
Friends with autism
Babysit children with language and
communication issues
Plan to volunteer in a disability specilist school
Initial areas of focus...
Language used in war and how that has
developed and changed.
How language is used by contemporary
advertisements for positive and negative
effects.
Grammar and syntax used by autistic and
non-autistic children.
Objectives
What I hope to have completed:
5,000 word dissertation
Completed blog entries
Completed long-term plan, PPR, etc
Detailed analysis of research
Concise conclusion reached
Objectives
What I hope to gain from the EPQ:
Deeper insight into psychology
Broaden knowledge of language disorders
and ASD
More in depth thinking of new theories
Background research
Sources I will be consulting
Books:
Aitchison, Jean (1998). The Articulate
Mammal. London: Routledge.
Crystal, David (1987). Child langage,
learning and linguistics. 2nd ed. Great
Britain: Edward Arnold.
Lock, Andrew and Fisher, Eunice (1984).
Language Developmnt. London: Routledge.

Sources I will be consulting
E-books:
TBA

Sources I will be consulting
Magazines:
Babel

Sources I will be consulting
Schools:
Owlsmoor Primary
Owlsmoor Nursery
Kennel Lane


Sources I will be consulting
Videos:
Debating ethics of using a video of the typical
behaviour of autism to analyse.

Youtube?
Primary research?


What have I done so far
Set up weebly.com blog
Used SpiderScribe to plan out contents
Created Gantt chart for holidays
Created Eisenhauer chart
Long-term plan
Drafted emails to experts and to schools
Created sample survey

What have I done so far
Edited and sent out survey
Continue to fill out PPR
Created bibliography with Harvard
referencing
Set up interview with teacher from Kennel
Lane
Brief talk to linguistics professor at
Cambridge University

Research that is done
What do I know about autism and language so
far
Language is dependent on interaction
Interaction theory by Bruner
Autism impedes communication
Therefore language acquisition is affected
Range of ASD
All on spectrum
Next Steps
Gather and analyse data from primary sources
Interview teachers & transcribe
Complete literature review
Complete bibliography
Find more E-books
Get down to around 10 secondary sources
Continue to full in PPR and blog
Email professor of language from University
Research to be completed
Labovs theory
Grices maxims
Leechs maxims
Example cases
Interview of teachers
David Crystals opinion
Differing opinions
Primary research

How did I organise my work?
Eisenhauer chart
Gantt chart
Long-term plan
Blog
Small, manageable
v2 and v3s of edited documents
How have I met the criteria?
Set up all the documents at the start
Continuous checks
Completed folder
List of checkpoints to adhere to
EPQ lessons PowerPoint
New Skills
Using Prezi
Using Surveys on GoogleDocs
Using SpiderScribe
Excel to record and analyse my data
Weebly
Independant research
Interviewing skills
Formal emails, persuasive writing
Harvard referencing
Problems and challenges
No reply from either schools or David
Crystal

I can go to the schools personally
I know a teacher at one of the schools
Appreciate his popularity and ask another
linguist
Problems and challenges
Holiday for two weeks

I have created a Gantt and Eisenhauer chart
Spending a lot of time on research prior to
holiday
Problems and challenges
Gathering specific, secondary data

Gather a lot of sources to narrow down
Focus more on primary data
Widen field to ASD rather than autism
Key dates
July 10th: Completed Gantt chart
Mid-August: Completed analysis of primary
sources
End of August: Completed analysis of
secondary sources
September 1st: Completed bibliography
September 15th: Completed literature review
December 1st: Final project due date
A successful project
This should include:
Completed PPR
Detailed long-term plan
Actual tasks completed and evaluated in blog
5,000 word dissertation
Doesnt ramble/go off on a tangent
Research from multiple forms of data
Use of both primary and secondary data
Deep analysis of work
Bibliography
Literature review
Evidence of work
Any questions?
Emma-Louise Downe