Speak with pictures before treatment
Speak with pictures after treatment
2. Image caption:
Narrative text before treatment:
Narrative text after treatment:
3. Narrative score:
We used the “Speak with Pictures” materials of black and white line drawings to assess children’s language abilities. The results showed that the children did not have any noticeable grammar or syntax errors in their language structures, but they could not describe the characters in the pictures (such as giraffe, elephant, Aunt Elephant, etc.), main items (airplane, swimming pool), and the relationships between characters (the relationships between three elephants).
When narrating a colored picture of a comic titled “Father and Son,” although the child’s expression of the entire event differed from the intended message of the comic, the child was able to mention the main content such as father, son, small tree, standing in punishment, nailing, indicating that the child may have some difficulties in identifying black and white line drawings. Previous studies have shown that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have some defects in various aspects of visual perception such as contrast sensitivity, central vision and peripheral vision, visual discrimination, shape-background recognition, visual memory, and so on.
We considered that the child’s visual function may be problematic, leading to difficulties in language expression during “Speak with Pictures.” Therefore, we conducted examinations on the child’s visual perceptual function.
(2) Visual perceptual function assessment:
1. Visual motion assessment:
2. Visual information processing assessment:
3. Visual attention assessment:
The visual assessment results indicated that the child’s visual perception, visual-motor integration, visual discrimination, visual shape-background recognition, visual compensation, visual memory, spatial relationships, visual concept constancy, audiovisual integration, etc., all showed varying degrees of delay. Therefore, we carried out targeted interventions for visual function.
II. Treatment process:
Visual balance training trajectory diagram
Visual perception training content
After treatment, the child showed significant improvement in various dimensions of visual perceptual function, and their ability to speak with pictures also improved. They could recognize characters, relationships, and items in black and white line drawings. As the clarity of image recognition improved, the patient’s ability to express the entire event also improved accordingly.
Public education
Visual perceptual disorders and language abilities
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication deficits and perceptual abnormalities. Common symptoms related to visual perception in ASD include reduced eye contact, poor imitation of actions and speech, lack of joint attention, and difficulties in recognizing facial expressions. Many studies suggest a close relationship between visual perceptual deficiencies in ASD patients and their core symptoms, but the underlying mechanisms are still unclear. Some scholars have proposed hypotheses regarding brain neuron long-distance connectivity defects and weak central theories.
In interactions with the natural and social environment, over 65% of information input depends on the visual pathway. Effective communication and collaboration depend on language communication. The extensive neural network in humans allows rapid, accurate, and efficient conversion of visual and language information.
The process of converting visual information to language can be termed as a “description-explanation” process, where individuals can use language symbols to describe what they see after viewing a picture. Similarly, when reading a sentence, individuals naturally visualize its corresponding image in their minds, known as the “imagine-concrete” process. This seamless conversion enables efficient information flow between individuals.
If a child has abnormal eye contact from an early age, it may affect the development of visual attention and higher-level visual perceptual functions, leading to difficulties in facial emotional information, recognition of social scenes, and ultimately challenges in language comprehension, especially understanding metaphors, sarcasm, humor, and adjusting language expression for communication. Interventions targeting visual function disorders can improve language comprehension and expression abilities in children with ASD.
