Running Head: BODY LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION 1

The Importance of Body Language:

Teaching Communication to Children on the Spectrum

Gabrielle L. McClure

Capella University
BODY LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION 2

Abstract

How important is it for behavior therapists to use effective body language when teaching

emerging communication skills to children on the autism spectrum? People with autism spectrum

disorder (ASD) have significant deficits in the understanding of nonverbal communication yet

studies show they are still acutely aware of others’ body language. As a large section of applied

behavior analysis (ABA) therapy is dedicated to teaching communication skills in order to create

independence, body language is a big part of communication within the English language and

should be carefully utilized when teaching- especially language skills. When instilling

communication in children on the autism spectrum, effective body language should be used in

order to promote learner growth and eventual understanding and use of such body language.

Keywords: ASD, nonverbal, communication, ABA, language, teaching, learner.

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The Importance of Body Language:

Teaching Communication to Children on the Spectrum

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) describes autism

spectrum disorder (ASD) as presenting through deficits in social communication and interaction

with peers and the appearance of “restrictive, repetitive patters of behavior, interests, or

activities” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 50). One of the treatments for ASD is

applied behavior analysis (ABA), a treatment that focuses on using desirable consequences to

teach new skills and undesirable consequences to decrease challenging behaviors (Hansel, 2013).

Up to 50% of children that are given early intervention ABA therapy are able to achieve near-

average behavioral functioning by the time they end treatment, but what does that mean for the

communication deficits caused by ASD (Hansel, 2013)? Hansel (2013) states that early

intervention ABA treatment is successful by 85% of the time in helping children with ASD

diagnoses how to communicate in some form. Communication is important for every human

being because it is how we show and attain our wants and needs. Babies cry for many reasons;

they have a dirty diaper and are uncomfortable, they are hungry, they want tickles, they are over

or under stimulated, and the list continues. As we grow intellectually, our ability to communicate

our feelings and what we need to resolve them is supposed to increase with us; but if you have a

developmental disability that slows this learning process, these behaviors such as crying, yelling,

or aggression to represent unmet needs and emotions, will continue as the only established form

of communication. Thus, teaching communication is imperative to the ABA treatment process.

So how can we ensure the best learning environments for children to increase their effective

communication skills? What can teachers do to help increase focus, willingness to learn, and

effectiveness of communication training? Being aware of your body language and nonverbal
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communication in these situations is imperative in creating and maintaining an effective learning

environment for children on the spectrum who are practicing effective language.

Evaluation of Sources

There are four main articles found that focus on the development of language in children

on the autism spectrum to how body language effects the teaching process, there are no available

studies involving both subjects. The first journal article is by Peterson, Slaughter, and Brownell

from 2015, which declares that children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder are in fact

skilled in reading nonverbal communication in others. This study focused on two groups;

children aged 5 to 12 years old who had an ASD diagnosis and those who did not, who were

asked to take various tests relating to reading emotional body language through the eyes and

body of subjects in photos (Peterson, Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015). They found that while the

control group outperformed in each test, the experiential group was very close behind on most

tests presenting a significantly smaller difference than is typically assumed in children with an

ASD diagnosis (Peterson, Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015). This study brings up a new theory-

children on the spectrum may exhibit a larger variety of deficit in interpreting nonverbal

communication in others, though they kept the conclusion that facial expressions were easier for

children with ASD to perceive than when restricting visual access to just the eyes of subjects

(Peterson, Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015). There may have been a weakness to this study as the

phrase ’high-functioning’ appeared several times in the article, meaning that the experiential

group may not have been as diverse across the autism spectrum as it could have been, creating

superior average results (Peterson, Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015). This journal directly interacts

with the discussion surrounding the importance of body language when teaching communication

to children on the spectrum as it emphasizes the wide range of understanding body language that
BODY LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION 5

this population possesses and thus the impact it would have if integrated into communication

training.

The second article follows a study done by Back, Ropar, and Mitchell in 2007 that

focused on understanding whether adults on the autism spectrum could determine the mental

state of a person through their eyes and facial expressions. On average, adults with ASD scored a

50% on the test which was a 10% decrease from the control groups scores (Back, Ropar, &

Mitchell, 2007). It was hypothesized that people with ASD were being restricted from

information by not effectively interpreting emotions in the eyes and thus relied solely on the

facial expressions, limiting their ability to understand the persons current emotional state (Back,

Ropar, & Mitchell, 2007). They ran a follow-up study eliminating the eyes from the subject

examples and found that scores deteriorated at a rate that assured the experimental group was

indeed using the eyes to decipher emotional states of subjects (Back, Ropar, & Mitchell, 2007).

Further studies capturing just the eyes of faces to use as examples found that scores barely

decreased in both experimental and control groups, assuming that adults on the autism spectrum

rely heavily on the eyes of others to determine their emotional states, with the help of facial

expressions (Back, Ropar, & Mitchell, 2007). Although this study used an age group not relevant

in this paper, the findings are still useful in deciding the importance of body language when

interacting with people on the autism spectrum. This study is also older than the recommended

seven years but lack of research on the topic led to a necessary use of older work.

The third article was written in 2016 by Altun regarding the correlation between body

language and it affects within the teaching and learning environment in schools. This article

gives an overview on the varieties of body language and how they can be exercised in the

classroom (Altun, 2016). Altun (2016) states that body language in teaching is imperative to gain
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and maintain the attention of learners. They continue on to give examples on what body language

could be beneficial for the teacher to present in their learner’s environment; using an excited and

clear voice, moving around near students to avoid creating an invisible barrier, upholding an

expressive face, utilizing emphatic hand gestures when speaking to continue drawing attention,

standing tall, and keeping a slow pace of movement and speaking to create a calm setting (Altun,

2016). Showing that you are fully focused and not distracted helps create a balance between the

teacher and student in a way that makes them feel equally as focused and active in the learning

process (Altun, 2016). This article seemed to be biased towards the author’s experiences as it

was lacking in scientific evidence on the subject, though these points are very useful towards

understanding how body language affects the learning environment as a whole.

Finally, the last source reviewed was an article by Yang in 2017 that focused on the

usefulness of body language when teaching English to students. This article brought up how

important appropriate body language is in the teaching environment to gain and maintain

students’ attention and willingness to learn the English language (Yang, 2017). Another

argument stated the importance of not only presenting appropriate body language to learners but

also teaching the understanding of body language to learners in order to assist them in

understanding all aspects of the English language, even the nonverbal (Yang, 2017). Teaching

and expecting appropriate body language from learners can intensify a student’s readiness to take

in information and keep them actively engaged (Yang, 2017). Though this article also held a lack

of evidence-based studies, its main subject points hold great information in understanding the

role of body language in learning environments from both the perspective of the teacher and

student.
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Understanding and Utilizing Body Language

Can children on the autism spectrum recognize and interpret the body language- facial

expressions, eyes, hand movements, etc.- of other people? The two studies obtained relating to

this subject both uncovered evidence that people with ASD are capable in identifying and

recognizing the body language of others, but have a relatively difficult time understanding what

that body language means from an emotional/communicative standpoint (Back, Ropar, &

Mitchell, 2007; Peterson, Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015). The official diagnosis of ASD states

that individuals on the spectrum have a significant impairment when understanding nonverbal

communication, which aligns with the findings of these studies (American Psychiatric

Association, 2013). Interestingly, the two studies disagree on whether people on the autism

spectrum rely more on facial expressions or the eyes of others when reading body language,

though both studies agreed on the proficiency in the performance of their experimental groups

when compared to control groups with no diagnoses (Back, Ropar, & Mitchell, 2007; Peterson,

Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015). Overall, both studies concluded that though people on the

spectrum may have difficulty interpreting the body language of others, they are proficient in

noticing it overall (Back, Ropar, & Mitchell, 2007; Peterson, Slaughter, & Brownell, 2015).

Importance of Body Language in Teaching

The tie between body language and its effect on teaching/learning is a severely under-

researched field. There were only two articles pertaining to the subject that both helped stress the

importance of keeping an open and active body language when teaching new subjects to learners.

Both articles gave examples of body language that enhances the learner’s experience and

willingness to learn new subjects such as using body language to hold learner’s attention (Altun,

2016; Yang, 2017). If the teacher presents an open and focused body language, the students
BODY LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION 8

should follow with their own focused body and mind (Altun, 2016). Yang’s (2017) article

focused on teaching the English language, something directly correlating with the

communication skills taught to children with ASD in ABA therapy. They state that using

appropriate body language when teaching English also assisted in the student’s understanding

and use of body language during communication (Yang, 2017). Learning to communicate wants

and needs is a huge part of ABA therapy; if children are learning emerging language, they should

also be learning the nonverbal aspects of language as it is a large part of our everyday

communication (Hansel, 2013; Yang, 2017). Even if the child does not understand the

importance of certain body language, seeing it done consistently during communication can

assist in identifying and mirroring those skills later on (Altun, 2016).

Application within ABA Services

One of the most important skills taught in ABA therapy is functional communication;

teaching children how to communicate their wants and needs through gestures, words, icons, and

more (Hansel, 2013). The studies reviewed come together to stress the importance of body

language when teaching communication skills, especially to those with lesser understanding of

such nonverbal communication (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Yang, 2017). Children

on the autism spectrum are proficient at searching for and noticing the body language of others,

but have issues at understanding and interpreting such body language (American Psychiatric

Association, 2013; Hansel, 2013). As nonverbal communication is a very important aspect in

teaching- keeping learners focused and excited to learn- it makes sense that appropriate body

language should be used when teaching children with ASD emerging language and

communication skills (Altun, 2016; Yang, 2017). If the appropriate body language is used by the

therapist when teaching communication skills to their client, this could not only enhance the
BODY LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION 9

learners experience and time it takes to understand new skills, but it could also assist in

inadvertently teaching the learner nonverbal social cues (Yang, 2017). If the therapist sits in front

of the learner, body turned towards them, maintaining eye contact when teaching, the learner

should understand over time that if they want to maintain another person’s attention, they should

be utilizing that same body language. Overall, the use of appropriate body language when

teaching children with ASD communication skills is a necessity to promote the learner’s best

growth and overall experience.

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References

Altun, M. (2019). An underestimated tool: Body language in classroom during teaching and

learning. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 6(1), 155-170.

doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v6i1p155.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders

(5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Back, E. Ropar, D. & Mitchell, P. (2007). Do the eyes have it? Inferring mental states from

animated faces in autism. Child Development, 78, 397-411.;’/.-0p.

Hansel. (2013). Rethinking Insurance Coverage of “Experimental” Applied Behavioral Analysis

Therapy and Its Usefulness in Combating Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Legal

Medicine., 34(2), 215–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/01947648.2013.800798.

Peterson, C. C., Slaughter, V., & Brownell, C. (2015). Children with autism spectrum disorder

are skilled at reading emotion body language. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,

Volume 139, 35-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.04.012.

Yang, X. (2017). The use of body language in english teaching. Theory and Practice in

Language Studies, 7(12), 1333-1336. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/tpls.0712.23.