Do Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders Use Regional Dialects? Teachers' Reports on the Use of Dialects by Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the use of local dialect by children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or other intellectual disabilities (ID), and teachers' use of local dialect when speaking to students. Teachers (n = 186) from all areas of Japan who were participating in study sessions held by the National Institute of Special Needs Education, and teachers of children with special needs in Kyoto (n = 112), Maizuru (n = 50), Kochi (n = 169), Kita Kyushu (n = 64), Oita (n = 85), and Kagoshima (n = 88), completed a questionnaire on the use of dialect by children with autism spectrum disorders or other intellectual disabilities. The teachers were asked to compare the prevalence of local dialect in the speech of children with autism spectrum disorders to its use in the speech of children without disabilities or typically developing children (TD) in their local area. In another survey, homeroom teachers at a school for special support education in Kochi completed a questionnaire in which they were asked to compare the use of 23 words unique to the Kochi dialect and the corresponding words in standard Japanese by students with and without autism spectrum disorders. In addition, the teachers who completed the first questionnaire were asked to evaluate their own use of the local dialect with children with autism spectrum disorders, children with intellectual disabilities, and typically developing children. The results were as follows: (a) The participants from all areas of Japan reported that children with autism spectrum disorders used the local dialect less often than did children with intellectual disabilities and typically developing children, (b) The teachers at the school for special support education in Kochi reported that their students with autism spectrum disorders used fewer words from the Kochi dialect than their students without autism spectrum disorders did. (c) Although teachers reported using local dialect words when speaking to typically developing children in everyday conversations, they indicated that they did not do that often with students in their schools. The results were discussed from the standpoint of the social function of dialects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)