00100			THE PROBLEM OF "YES" IN CHILDHOOD AUTISM
00200	
00300	
00400	
00500		It has been frequently observed that autistic children say
00600	"no" without difficulty but never say "yes" until they reach seven
00700	or eight years of age. Why is this the case? Can anything remedial
00800	be done about it?
00900		In normal children "no" usually appears a few weeks or months
01000	before "yes". Although the terms look like simple opposites, there exists
01100	a great difference in the frequency and function of the terms 
01200	in a child's experience. He hears many "no"s because this
01300	is the main way parents stop a child from doing what he is doing using
01400	verbal commands at a distance. An ongoing activity which is not disapproved
01500	is not interrupted. When positive sanctions are expressed terms other
01600	than"yes" are used, e.g. "good". A child hears "yes"
01700	only if he listens to others or if he asks "yes-no" questions. An
01800	autistic child, having difficulty with symbol processing in general,
01900	tunes out other people's talk. And he seldom asks questions.
02000	(agreement as to truth in adults--three meanings of "no")
02100		The terms "yes" and "no" are anaphoric and elliptical. Thus
02200	if I ask you, "do you want a cookie?" and you answer "yes" you mean,
02300	"yes, I want a cookie." The affirmation refers back to the question
02400	and asserts elliptically an assent. To signify "no" to this question
02500	an autistic child will say "no" but to signify assent he will simply
02600	repeat the question because he does not understand the function of "yes".
02700	
02800	
02900	
03000				REMEDIES
03100	
03200	Parents
03300		Parents should use "yes" as much a s possible with the child.
03400	In commonly recurrent situations in the child's life-
03500	eating, bathing, dresssing and undressing, travelling, going to bed, etc.
03600	the parent should emphasize "YES" even though no question is asked. For example,
03700	"now we eat, YES, now we eat", "do I want milk, YES ,I want milk".
03800	If the child asks a yes-no question , then always reply with a "yes".
03900	For example, if the child asks "go store?" then answer "YES, go store".
04000	
04100	Program
04200	
04300		We should have a game in which an animal is displayed and a 
04400	question asked such as "is this a dog?" and a voice answers "YES,
04500	this is a dog". Then show a cat and ask "is this a dog?" and have
04600	the voice answer "NO, this is a cat". Another variation would be
04700	to show a dog , ask "is this a cat?" and answer "NO, this is a dog."
04800		Another game could display ice-cream and the voice asks,
04900	"do you like ice-cream?" and another voice says "Yes, I like ice-cream."
05000	It is worth noting that these games also exercise the "I-you"
05100	pronominal functions.
05200	a great difference in frequency and function of the terms
05300	
05400