Examining the relationship between preverbal purposeful communication knowledge levels of mothers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and children's social communication skills

The aim of this study was to determine whether the level of knowledge of mothers with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder about preverbal period purposeful communication tools has an effect on children's social communication skills. The study group consisted of 31 mothers with autism spectrum disorder children in the preverbal period and 25 mothers with typically developing children in the preverbal period. The study group was determined by criterion sampling from purposive sampling methods. "Questionnaire for Determining Mothers' Level of Knowledge about Purposeful Communication Tools in the Preverbal Period" was used to determine the mothers' level of knowledge about purposeful communication and "Social Communication Checklist-Revised Version (SILKOL-R OTV)" was used to determine the children's social communication skill levels. It was observed that there was no significant difference between the mean scores of the mothers in both groups regarding the level of knowledge about preverbal communication tools. When the mean scores of the children in both groups for social communication skill levels were examined, it was observed that the mean scores of children with autism spectrum disorder were lower than those of typically developing children. It is known that this situation is closely related to the limitations experienced by children with autism spectrum disorder in the field of social communication and interaction. It was found that it was not sufficient for mothers to have knowledge about preverbal period purposeful communication tools alone. It has been observed that mothers need support for the development of social communication skills in their children by recognising their children's communicative behaviours and appropriate responsiveness behaviours.