Pragmatic language examines how context can contribute to meaning. It has several key concepts. Among them are:
- Implicature – Looking at what’s implied, rather than literally spoken
- Context – Culture, social, and situational factors that influence the interpretation of meaning
- Speech acts – Language as action
- Presupposition – Assumed background information
- Dexis – Context-dependent words such as ‘now’ and ‘here’
- Politeness – Strategies to maintain social harmony; may lead to indirect communication
Keep in mind that “pragmatics” and “pragmatic” refer to different meanings. Linguistically, pragmatics refers to the context of language use. Outside of linguistics, pragmatic means taking a practical approach and dealing with things in a realistic and sensible way.
How Are Pragmatics Measured?
An autism assessment typically includes evaluation of social communication skills and a focus on pragmatics. A practitioner measures these skills to determine how an autistic individual communicates in social contexts. There are six primary categories a practitioner looks at:
- Can they perceive and express their full range of emotions?
- Can they understand and use social cues?
- Are they able to comprehend figurative language, sarcasm, and implied meanings?
- Can they adapt their communication to suit the context and purpose?
- Can they start and maintain a discussion?
- Do they use nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions and changes in voice tone, to communicate their different intentions and feelings?
Challenges of Pragmatics
Autistic individuals tend to use literal language, which can make pragmatics difficult to understand and apply. In particular, autistic individuals may have challenges with:
- Nonverbal communication – Difficulty with facial expressions, gestures, and eye contact
- Context adaptation – Difficulty switching between formal and informal talking for different situations
- Understanding nuance – Having trouble understanding idioms, sarcasm, jokes, and metaphors (Swineford et al., 2014)
- Social connection – Communication barriers can make it harder to form and maintain friendships
- Turn-taking – Difficulty with the back-and-forth flow of conversations
Social (Pragmatics) Communication Disorder (SCD)
Getting a diagnosis of Social Communication Disorder means that a person’s daily functioning is highly impacted by SCD factors (ASHA Staff, n.d.). It’s important to be aware that SCD and autism are separate things that can co-occur in the same person. The primary difference between SCD and autism is that an individual with SCD doesn’t necessarily have repetitive or restricted behaviors.
Do Read: How Do Structured Curriculum Resources from Reliable Education Services Support Diverse Learners
Supporting Autistic People with SCD or Similar Issues
A practitioner, educator, or parent/caregiver can use books to help an autistic child predict outcomes and explore character feelings. This leads to a better understanding of pragmatics. Another helpful tip is to mimic social interactions to provide real-world experience. For instance, having an autistic child role-play taking a phone call or ordering food can be helpful (Geary, 2014).
At its core, a language assessment can identify areas where autistic individuals may require support in navigating the unspoken, complex rules of human interaction. A new layer of conversation skills can be unveiled once they’ve been shown how to better understand pragmatics.
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