Preschool Children With Autism Compared With Ordinary Children's Ability Of Metaphor Study

Autistic children have gradually drawn the concern of the public. Language disorder is an important research topic in the field of autism, as well as in that of language study. Pragmatic problem is considered as the core of language disorder of autistic children. Metaphor refers to a kind of language form people often apply in speech. The present study aims to discuss the metaphorical competence in preschool children with autism. On the basis of similarities between things, metaphor builds a relationship between two objects. As for autistic children, can they understand metaphor? Do they have the ability of applying metaphor? Are there any differences between the metaphorical competence of autistic children and normal children? The above-mentioned questions constitute basic research topic of the present study.In this study, the author uses the quantitative method and tests the performance of autistic children aging from4to7and normal children in metaphoric triads task. Through analyzing data, this study describes differences between metaphorical competence of autistic children and that of normal children, makes analysis on the characteristic of metaphorical competence of autistic children.The author categorizes metaphors from the perspectives of static perception, dynamic perception and conceptual features. Static perception included shape and color, while sound and movement are included in dynamic perception. Several results were generated. Firstly, autistic children are able to understand metaphor and have certain metaphorical competence. Secondly, the metaphorical competence of autistic children was significantly weaker than that of the normal in generally. Autistic children performed significantly weaker than the normal in dynamic perception, while difference between autistic and normal children in static perception and conceptual features were not significant. In terms of separate types of static and dynamic perception, performance of autistic children in color perception and movement perception was significantly weaker than normal children. Their performance of shape perception is better than normal children, but the difference between the two was not significant. Thirdly, autistic children have some metaphorical competence in three types of metaphor, their performances do not exist significant differences. In the shape of the type, there is significant difference. Autistic children are more likely to understand metaphor established according to shape similarity. Finally, we get some revelations from this study on metaphorical competence of preschool autistic children. Theory of Multiple Intelligence should be adopted as a guide for teachers when treating autistic children. Metaphor should be applied to language teaching so as to enrich the education of autistic children. Based on the advantages of autistic children, various resources should be created, and appropriate methods should also be applied to promote their learning and development.