The Role of Pragmatics in the Assessment of Autism Eligibility

The intent of this paper is to clarify the meaning of the language used in the autism eligibility criteria as described in the California Education Code (Cal. Educ. Code § 56320 (b)(1)). There has been ongoing discussion among various educational professionals across school districts regarding the current criteria for autism and the meaning of the terms verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and social interaction as defined in the eligibility criteria. Discussions have involved disagreement as to whether pragmatic skills are considered part of both verbal and nonverbal communication. Though pragmatics is defined as social language, this does not mean that pragmatics only belongs under the umbrella of social interaction. In fact, “pragmatics concentrates on language as a communication tool that is used to achieve social ends. Pragmatics is concerned with the way language is used to communicate rather than with the way language is structured” (Owens, 2016, p.22). This communication can be both verbal and nonverbal. Thus, pragmatic language is comprised of skills that overlap all three areas including verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and social interaction.

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