The Effect of Using Multiple Exemplar Training in Order to Encourage the Understanding of Metaphorical Language in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Elisa Timpano, Maria Stabile, Antonella Diano
Several studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit difficulties with non-literal language such as irony, sarcasm and metaphors (Happé, 1994; Persicke et al. 2012). Metaphorical language is a rhetorical figure that falls within pragmatic skills, fundamental for daily communication in the socio-cultural context, which represents the natural context in which learning of this skill takes place (Stephen and Levison, 1983; Gordon, 1989). The aim of this study was to improve the understanding of metaphorical language in four children aged 5 to 11, with ASD, through the use of Multiple Exemplar Training (Cooper, Heron and Heward, 2007). The study is inspired by that conducted by Persicke et al. (2012), which involved the use of 20 metaphorical stories in writing, with the possibility of visual aids for two of the participants. The results highlight the effectiveness of the strategy in promoting the understanding of metaphors in the participants.
Keywords
Autism, Metaphorical language, Multiple exemplar training, Applied behaviour analysis, Linguistic competence.
