Individual features of communication skills in children with autism spectrum disorders

The problem of autism lies in its variability of manifestations. There are no permanent key symptoms. Each child's symptom complex is formed under the influence of the damaged area ofthe central nervous system, the degree of impairment, and the environment. However, all children have in common a disorder of behavior and communication skills. The article analyzes research on the problem of developing communication skills in children with an autism spectrum disorder. Based on the analysis of scientific research, a methodology for diagnosing communication skills in children with ASD is developed, which includes the diagnostic procedure and parameters for evaluating the features of its manifestation, which took into account the components of communication skills identified in psycholinguistics, which should be formed at an early age. According to the results of the study of 26 children with ASD, we created individual characteristics of each examined child. The publication presents samples of such characteristics and defines quantitative indicators of components of communication skills, demonstrating how often each was manifested in children with ASD of this sample. The study results in defining discussion questions and conclusions, which determine the practical value of this approach to the analysis of communication skills for the next step — special training aimed at forming communication skills in children with ASD.