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Communication Problems in Autism pp 207–227Cite as

Parents as Language Trainers of Children with Autism

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Part of the book series: Current Issues in Autism ((CIAM))

Abstract

We are all language trainers. Like the character in Molière’s play who learns that “for more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing it,” so too have all of us been teaching language all along, although it has taken us a while to find that out. Children acquire speech with such apparent ease and delight that we pay little attention to the role we play in tutoring them in language. The seeming simplicity of this acquisition makes all the more frustrating and puzzling the inability of autistic children and others with severe communication handicaps to learn to speak.

Support for this research came in part from a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH29897–04)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854, USA

    Sandra L. Harris & Thomas D. Boyle

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  1. Sandra L. Harris
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  2. Thomas D. Boyle
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    Eric Schopler  & Gary B. Mesibov  & 

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Harris, S.L., Boyle, T.D. (1985). Parents as Language Trainers of Children with Autism. In: Schopler, E., Mesibov, G.B. (eds) Communication Problems in Autism. Current Issues in Autism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4806-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4806-2_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-3203-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4806-2

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