Maurice reached his early developmental milestones without concern, however at the age of four after commencing kindergarten it was recognised that he demonstrated social and behavioural delays, along with significant speech and language delays, which inevitably resulted in the diagnosis of Autism.
Maurice is a male child who is 4.9 years of age, he is the fourth child born in a nuclear family of seven siblings. Two of Maurice’s elder siblings have also been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. The family are Egyptian refugees and English is a second language for the family.
Maurice’s social and emotional development delays cause him to be a provoking presence in the room with his peers as he struggles with social rules. Maurice predominantly communicates through his own form of sign language, pointing at objects, physically tapping people, grunting, and a few words. Maurice fails to recognise social cues, such as body language, personal space, and manners and turn taking. Maurice tends to shout, push, spits, grabs toys and punches other children whilst they are in the middle of their play and constantly seeks attention from educators. …show more content…
(cited in Joyce et al. 2013, p. 134) observe that levels of resources such as time, energy and money are diluted among children as the family size increase. The fact that Maurice comes from a large family group means there is less time for him to be given the assistance he requires to help overcome his delays, since two of his siblings also have neurological disabilities. The American Sign Language Hearing Association (2015, para 4) states in the brain of a bilingual person there are two languages that are constantly active, which can lead to the verbal skills being generally weaker. English as a second language also creates an additional disadvantage for Maurice, as his speech is delayed, he needs to learn three languages or responses’ to label any one item such as in Arabic ,in English, or in his own sign
Maurice is a male child who is 4.9 years of age, he is the fourth child born in a nuclear family of seven siblings. Two of Maurice’s elder siblings have also been diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum. The family are Egyptian refugees and English is a second language for the family.
Maurice’s social and emotional development delays cause him to be a provoking presence in the room with his peers as he struggles with social rules. Maurice predominantly communicates through his own form of sign language, pointing at objects, physically tapping people, grunting, and a few words. Maurice fails to recognise social cues, such as body language, personal space, and manners and turn taking. Maurice tends to shout, push, spits, grabs toys and punches other children whilst they are in the middle of their play and constantly seeks attention from educators. …show more content…
(cited in Joyce et al. 2013, p. 134) observe that levels of resources such as time, energy and money are diluted among children as the family size increase. The fact that Maurice comes from a large family group means there is less time for him to be given the assistance he requires to help overcome his delays, since two of his siblings also have neurological disabilities. The American Sign Language Hearing Association (2015, para 4) states in the brain of a bilingual person there are two languages that are constantly active, which can lead to the verbal skills being generally weaker. English as a second language also creates an additional disadvantage for Maurice, as his speech is delayed, he needs to learn three languages or responses’ to label any one item such as in Arabic ,in English, or in his own sign