Introduction:

One of the central features in identifying ASD individuals is their peculiar communication. Non-verbal language indicators for the diagnosis of ASD children have been well documented in observational research, using social interaction contexts. However, there is a need to also investigate the verbal aspects through these methodologies.

Objectives:

The main objective of this study is to identify the skills and sociopragmatic commitments in the verbal language of an ASD child, in comparison with a child without ASD, in the context of interaction with their mothers. It is intended to identify repetitive and stereotyped behaviors in the child's verbal language and behavior, as well as difficulties in conversational skills. As a secondary objective, it is intended to evaluate the adequacy of an observational protocol developed to evaluate the sociopragmatic aspects in the verbal language ASD children.

Method:

This is a comparative, descriptive and exploratory case study. Two children (one diagnosed with ASD and the other without it), aged 5 years old, and their mothers, participated in the study.

Results:

The results of the observation sessions showed that it was possible to identify sociopragmatic commitments specifically in the ASD child. The two cases differed in the way the ASD child interacted with his mother (joint attention difficulties, deficits in prosody, absence of narratives, and the presence of stereotyped expressions and echolalia). Difficulty in coordinating eye gaze with speech was also observed.

Conclusion:

The protocol seems to have fulfilled its purpose, but still needs revision.

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