Language for sensory experiences in Autism Spectrum Disorder

This project seeks to answer significant and largely unexplored questions about sensory communication in ASD and creates an empirically robust foundation for understanding sensory language and communication in ASD. Through interviews and written surveys, the project considers how adults with ASD use spoken and written language to describe their experiences of sound, vision, smell, taste, touch, and body movement. The project's results can potentially have significant healthcare applications. Individuals with ASD are not given sufficient means and opportunities to influence their own healthcare, partly because the necessary conditions for effective communication between healthcare providers and ASD patients are not being met. If we are to find ways of facilitating sensory communication in healthcare, we first need to establish relevant features of sensory language use in this group of patients.