The Impact Of Social Communication On The Areas Of Social...

In the Fall of 2014, I observed weekly therapy sessions with a four-year-old boy diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. The client was enrolled in an early childhood classroom and was having difficulties independently participating in preschool activities due to his deficits in social skills, as well as receptive and expressive language. More specifically, the client’s deficits in social skills consisted of problems employing eye contact, turn-taking, joint attention, and theory of mind. This case has inspired me to examine the literature on developmental milestones of social communication in children from birth to age four. Social communication consists of social interaction, social cognition, pragmatics, and expressive and receptive†¦show more content†¦This ability to perceive, think about, understand, and interact with other people is known as social cognition (Bennett, 1993). From a young age, children try to understand complex social situations and eventually, anticipate and even control what the people around them do (Bennett, 1993). Effective communication involves understanding and making inferences about others’ mental states such as their knowledge, beliefs, intentions, desires, and emotions (Bennett, 1993). This understanding of mental states is an aspect of social cognition known as Theory of Mind (Bennett, 1993). Theory of mind is important for social interaction in order to understand and predict the actions and behaviors of the people around us (Martin McDonald, 2003). In past research, it has been argued that children possess a theory of mind (Bennett, 1993). However, the questioning does not stop here. The notion that children have theory of mind leads researchers to ask additional questions such as: To what extent do children actually understand the mental states of others? When do children begin to acquire this knowledge of mind and how does this knowledge develop? Wellman (1990) and Perner (1991) both claim that i nfants do not possess theory of mind. Perner (1991) argues that the social awareness, joint attention, and emotional awareness seen in 9-12 month olds does not require understanding of adults’ mental states,