The need of diversifying people with autism and the impact of the autism typology on speech therapy

It is always a great challenge for a speech therapist and the whole diagnostic team to make a proper diagnosis. This is the key moment of the therapy process. Modern medical diagnostic tools (ICD, DSM) can only show whether the examined person has a pervasive developmental disorder, or not. From the speech therapist - practitioner perspective, this kind of diagnosis is insufficient, because the medical criteria which are the basis of the diagnosis, say very little of the child’s functioning level. A huge heterogeneity among persons with this disorder is another issue. This triggered the need for dividing subcategories among this population. The author of the article quotes two classification of autism: first according to L. Wing, second according to O.S. Nikolska. Classifications presented in this work became a starting point to create a more profiled speech therapy intervention. Therapy model presented by the author is based on Applied Behavior Analysis.