Abstract:

Introduction:
The comprehension of visually presented nonverbal communication features is one of the very important parts of the process of acquiring information needed for social interaction and functioning pragmatic communication. In children with special needs, the difficulties or differences in comprehending the social-pragmatic signals during communication have been described, but usually not in the context of speech and language therapy and inclusive education context.

Methodology:
The aim of the research is to compare perception of visual schemes in the three groups of children with special education needs, n=90 (autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, developmental language disorder) and one group of children without specific education needs, n=30. We would like to present the influence of the different perception of visual schemes on the process of education.

Results:
Surprisingly, the results between the groups are not so different, as we expected. Quantitative evaluation showed that the worst results in perception of visual schemes are achieved in children with autism spectrum disorder. Based on qualitative evaluation, visual schemes are assessed similarly. Children not pay attention to social situation on the pictures but they more perceive the details of pictures or they looking for differences of pictures.

Conclusion:
We are discussing the possibilities of applying the results in educational settings with relation to intervention of communication difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, and developmental language disorder.

Keywords:

Level of communication, visual schemes, education, autism spectrum disorders, intellectual disability, developmental language disorder.