Learning to 'talk things through in head' may help autistic kids

Washington, Jan 25 (ANI): A new research has suggested that teaching children with autism to 'talk things through in their head' may help them solve complex day-to-day tasks, which could increase the chances of independent, flexible living later in life.

The study, led by Durham University, found that the mechanism for using 'inner speech' or 'talking things through in their head' is intact in children with autism but not always used in the same way as typically developing children do.

The psychologists found that the use, or lack of, thinking in words is strongly linked to the extent of someone's communication impairments, which are rooted in early childhood.

However, the researchers suggest teaching and intervention strategies for children targeted at encouraging inner speech may make a difference.

These strategies, which include encouraging children to describe their actions out loud, have already proven useful for increasing mental flexibility among typically developing children.

It is also suggested that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) could, for example, benefit from verbal learning of their daily schedule at school rather than using visual timetables, as is currently a common approach.

"Most people will 'think in words' when trying to solve problems, which helps with planning or particularly complicated tasks. Young typically developing children tend to talk out loud to guide themselves when they face challenging tasks," said lead author, Dr David Williams, lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Durham University.

"However, only from about the age of seven do they talk to themselves in their head and, thus, think in words for problem-solving. How good people are at this skill is in part determined by their communication experiences as a young child."

Children with autism often miss out on the early communicative exchanges when they are young which may explain their tendency not to use inner speech when they are older. This relative lack of inner speech use might contribute to some of the repetitive behaviours, which are common in people with autism.

In the study, those individuals with more profound communication impairments also struggled most with the use of inner speech for complex tasks. People with ASD did, however, use inner speech to recall things from their short-term memory.

"These results show that inner speech has its roots in interpersonal communication with others early in life, and it demonstrates that people who are poor at communicating with others will generally be poor at communicating with themselves," explained Dr Williams.

"It also shows that there is a critical distinction between being able to express yourself verbally and actually using silent language for problem-solving. For example, the participants with ASD in our study were verbally able, yet did not use inner speech to support their planning," he added.

The research is published in Development and Psychopathology. (ANI)