Autism spectrum, its type and its relationship with the motivation of learning verbal communication skill among children in special education centers from the point of view of speech therapists

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the relationship of the autism spectrum disorder and its type or degree with the motivation to learn verbal communication for children on the autism spectrum in special education centers from the point of view of speech therapists, As the motivation to learn verbal communication is a new feature in the field of communication. The study was applied to two speech therapists and 4 children previously diagnosed with autism at Russell center for Autistic Children in Ramallah, Palestine. The qualitative approach was used to identify the children's motivation for verbal communication by developing indicators that measure their motivation to respond in speech therapy sessions, by interviewing specialists. besides that, the participatory observation of the children during the sessions, at the rate of 4 sessions for each child. With the use of the Indian assessment scale to find out the type and degree of autism by interviewing parents. The results of the study showed that there is no relationship between the type or degree of autism and the motivation of verbal communication, but rather that different characteristics of children, their tendencies, desires, and the organized environment, it was related to the motivation of verbal communication. The results also showed a lack of learning motivation for the verbal communication skill of the first child and the second girl by 86.7%, the third by 40%, and the fourth by 26.7%.

The study recommended that the motivation to learn verbal communication be added as a feature that falls under the field of verbal communication for children on the autism spectrum. And to distinguish between learning motivation for verbal communication and verbal communication when planning the speech therapy sessions.