Sie befinden Sich nicht im Netzwerk der Universität Paderborn. Der Zugriff auf elektronische Ressourcen ist gegebenenfalls nur via VPN oder Shibboleth (DFN-AAI) möglich. mehr Informationen...
The current article scrutinizes extracts from a nondirective therapy of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from a discourse-analytic perspective. Discourse analysis (DA) serves here as an umbrella term, which includes other discursive approaches (Sarangi, 2017), in particular conversation analysis (CA). This latter, in-depth method of analysis allows one to study different types of communicative exchanges turn-by-turn, revealing their interactional and discursive details that tend to be overlooked in quantitative approaches. By employing the analytic apparatus of CA, the article demonstrates the application and relevance of this method to professionals. The study shows how interactions between therapists and their clients with ASD, as well as exchanges between autistic individuals, are progressively coconstructed by the interlocutors. Concentrating on the organization and content of the interactions, the article guides the reader through subsequent stages of the analytic process, acquainting them with the discourse-analytic approach. The paper demonstrates how applying the discursive perspective allows one to construe the autistic individuals' contributions as resources that can be tapped into by the therapist to facilitate a successful act of communication in the local context of the interaction. Consequently, the article supports the concept of neurodiversity, focusing on positive interpretations of the autistic clients' utterances and highlighting the communicative strengths of this population. Moreover, by analyzing authentic data from therapeutic sessions, the article affords the reader a glimpse into a nondirective therapy of ASD, showing how practitioners manage therapeutic interactions, building upon autistic resources.