Behaviour is Communication: Nonverbal Communicative Behaviour in Students with Autism and Instructors ' Responsivity

People with autism have severe communication deficits, with many functioning at a prelinguistic level. Consequently, it is important for adults to recognize and respond to nonverbal behaviours as communicative. In the present study, students with autism were videotaped during a social interaction with a familiar instructor. Communicative behaviours and their perceived functions were later identified by the instructor. Trained coders also identified potentially communicative behaviours and the instructors' responsivity to these behaviours. Overall, students displayed a wide range of nonverbal communicative behaviours, serving a wide range of perceived communicative functions at a high frequency and instructors responded to these behaviours at a high rate. Individuals communicate within the context of social interaction, suggesting that th