[Analyses of the communicative functions expressed by language therapists and patients of the autistic spectrum]. / Análise das funções comunicativas expressas por terapeutas e pacientes do espectro autístico.

BACKGROUND: communicative functions used by language therapists and patients. AIM: to analyze the communicative functions used by language therapists and patients of the autistic spectrum. METHOD: the communicative functions expressed by six therapists in interaction with six patients each were analyzed, constituting 36 profiles of communicative functions expressed by the dyad therapist-patient. All therapists were part of a Training Program in Childhood Psychiatric Disorders and the patients were diagnosed within the autistic spectrum. Data were gathered using the transcriptions of a videotaped therapy session and these were analyzed according to the criteria suggested by Fernandes (2000). The communicative functions were divided in two different ways: interpersonal and non-interpersonal, and instrumental, regulatory, interactive, personal, heuristic and imaginative. RESULTS: the comparison between the functions used by the language therapists and the patients indicated a statistically significant difference in use of the following functions: request of social routine, request of information, request of action, comment, recognition of other, exclamation, non-focused, exploratory, exhibition, play and reactive. There was also a statistically significant difference between the use of interpersonal, non-interpersonal, regulatory, interactive, personal and heuristic communicative functions. CONCLUSION: the functional communicative profile of language therapists is different from the one presented by their patients when comparing each communicative function and when the communicative functions are grouped (interpersonal and non-interpersonal, and instrumental, regulatory, interactive, personal, heuristic and imaginative). Therapists use communicative functions to fill in the communicative space and to make requests. This finding agrees with the findings of previous studies.