Objectives: Social communication is generally considered to comprise ongoing verbal and/or nonverbal behavior during interactive social contexts. This study aims to compare the social communication skills of school-aged children with high functioning autism (HFA) to those with specific language impairment (SLI) and typical developing children (TD). Methods: Forty-five children with HFA, SLI, and TD participated in a structured task that was similar classroom setting in order to elicit social

more »

... munication behavior. The total frequency of social communication, the frequency of verbal/nonverbal behavior, and the frequency of initiation/response as assessed across four types of social interaction types were measured to compare the social communication abilities of three groups. Results: There were no significant differences in the total amount of social communication among the HFA, SLI, and TD groups. Children with HFA used nonverbal behavior less frequently than did SLI or TD children. HFA children responded and initiated more irrelevantly and assertively. The SLI children in this study showed similar pattern to the TD children in initiation and response behaviors although some SLI children used passive responses more frequently compared to those with TD. Conclusion: Social communication behaviors seemed to be validly elicited in a structured task representing a classroom setting. It thus seems to be of considerable importance to tap into social communication behaviors that involve more than two partners. The findings of this paper implicitly support the importance of providing structured group tasks in addition to assessment and/or intervention designed to improve social communication skills. 의사소통이란, 원래 共有(공유) 또는 共涌(공용)의 뜻을 지닌 라 틴어에서 유래된 말로 간단히 해석하면 화자와 청자의 지식, 정보, 신념, 감정 등을 공유하거나 공통화하는 행동으로 볼 수 있다. 의사 소통을 하기 위해서는 사람들(화자와 청자), 메시지, 채널, 피드백 (반응), 맥락과 같은 요소들이 필요하다. 특히 의사소통현장에서 중 요한 요소는 사회적 맥락이다. 특정 시간과 장소에서 어떤 분위기 로 말하고 행동하는가에 따라 메시지는 적절하게 되기도 하고 부 적절하게 되기도 하고 또한 효과적일 수도 있고 비효과적일 수도 있 다(Cooper & Simonds, 2006). 성공적인 상호 관계는 실제 맥락 속 에서 타인과 상호작용하며 의사소통 하는 것을 말하는 것으로 이 것이 충족되었을 때 즐거움과 효율성을 갖게 된다. 이를 위해서는 적절한 의사소통 능력(communication competence)과 사회적 능 력(social competence)을 갖추어야 한다. 사회적 능력과 의사소통 능력은 그 형태에 있어서 각각 분리되어 고려되지만 기능 측면에서 http://dx.