Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder: What Socio- Communication Difficulties Entail and the Recommended Research Based Intervention Strategies

In the last three decades, there has been an unprecedented rate of increase in the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in every 59 children in USA has ASD. ASD is a dyad of disabilities with a major hall mark feature being socio-communication difficulties. The feature significantly affects interaction and lowers the quality of life of individuals with ASD. To address its implication, a multidisciplinary team approach is critical especially in this era of inclusive education. The main aim of this paper is to assemble and consolidate relevant literature on what Socio-communication difficulties entail as well as the appropriate research-based intervention strategies. This creates a one ‘stop shop’ source of reference for multidisciplinary team members who may not be experts in the field of Autism Speech Disorder. To achieve this, Google Scholar search engine was used to search for Articles and research findings from peer reviewed journals on the deficit and appropriate intervention strategies. Only articles that clearly addressed characteristics and intervention strategies were considered. The main electronic data sources used include Jstor, Eric digest and EBSCO. This study is a therefore a product of an extensive in-depth qualitative desk top research. Challenges in socio-communication abilities are significantly associated with poor theory of mind as well as comorbidity in learners with ASD. The article summarizes the categories of comorbidity first, socio-communication difficulties and finally scans through contemporary research-based intervention strategies.