Faculty of Education - Theses

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    Similarities and differences between the parent and teacher observations of potential communicative acts in a child presenting with autistic tendencies
    Yoon, Jung-Ae (Annie) ( 2006)
    The involvement of parents and teachers have an important role as decision-makers and communicators in the lives of children with developmental disabilities. A process that leads to increased exchange of information regarding a child's communicative behaviour is likely to enhance the communicative learning environment of homes and early childhood intervention centres. The aim of the present study is to compare teacher and parent observations of children's communicative behaviours with a child presenting with autistic tendencies through a single case study approach. A parent and a teacher of a child presenting with autistic tendencies participated in the study. The observational profile of children with autism was used to collect baseline data about the child's social and communicative abilities. Subsequently an interview using the Inventory of Potential Communicative Acts (IPCA) was conducted on the teacher and the parent. The baseline data obtained from the observation profile indicated a cross-section of results and demonstrated that the child has fluent and developing skills in several aspects of social interaction. The results of communicative ability demonstrated that the use of gestures featured highly and the use of verbal expression was virtually not present. The IPCA interview results showed that there were significant differences between the parent and teacher in interpreting the child's communicative behaviours. The study suggests that gathering information from parents as well as teachers has a critical role in providing valuable information for the development and implementation of intervention programs for language and communicative development in children with autistic tendencies.