MACMILLAN A Practical Guide to Social Interaction Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders (The Language of Mental Health)

This book introduces a novel approach for examining language and communication in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - discourse and conversation analysis. The authors offer a set of very different perspectives on these complex issues than are typically presented in psychological and clinical work. Emerging from a range of social scientific fields, discourse and conversation analysis involve fine-grained qualitative analysis of naturally-occurring, rather than laboratory-based, interaction, enabling broad applications.  Presented in two parts, this innovative volume first provides a set of pedagogical chapters to develop the reader's knowledge and skills in using these approaches, before moving to showcase the use of discursive methods through a range of original contributions from world-leading scholars, drawn from a range of disciplines including sociology, academic and clinical psychology, speech and language therapy, critical disability studies and social theory, and medicine and psychiatry. Review “A Practical Guide to Social Interaction Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders is a simple, accessible introduction to the study of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with discourse-oriented approaches. … This book is an invaluable resource for both new students of discourse and more experienced discursive researchers who are thinking about applying discursive methods to studying ASD. … Overall the book is a nice introduction to the discursive turn in critical mental health and autism research.” (Gates Henderson, Qualitative Methods in Psychology/QMiP Bulletin, Issue 27, 2019) “With its rich and innovative content, this book is a comprehensive reference to the range of language-focused approaches currently being used in research on neurological disorders. Newcomers from related fields also will find much of value in this collection, which hopefully will spark an increase in the number and quality of related projects.” (Yanhua Cheng, Discourse Studies, Vol. 20 (05), October, 2018) Review “The contributors to this welcome book make a strong case, backed up by vivid examples, for the usefulness of very close analysis of the language and behaviour of people with autism spectrum disorder, and the people around them. As a lively record of the state of the art, it will be an invaluable guide to students and researchers.” (Charles Antaki, Loughborough University, UK) From the Back Cover This book introduces a novel approach for examining language and communication in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) - discourse and conversation analysis. The authors offer a set of very different perspectives on these complex issues than are typically presented in psychological and clinical work. Emerging from a range of social scientific fields, discourse and conversation analysis involve fine-grained qualitative analysis of naturally-occurring, rather than laboratory-based, interaction, enabling broad applications. Presented in two parts, this innovative volume first provides a set of pedagogical chapters to develop the reader's knowledge and skills in using these approaches, before moving to showcase the use of discursive methods through a range of original contributions from world-leading scholars, drawn from a range of disciplines including sociology, academic and clinical psychology, speech and language therapy, critical disability studies and social theory, and medicine and psychiatry. About the Author Michelle O’Reilly is a Senior Lecturer for the Greenwood Institute of Child Health at the University of Leicester, and Research Consultant for Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust.  Michelle’s research interests are broadly in child mental health, family therapy, and the sociology of health and illness.  Jessica Nina Lester is an Assistant Professor of Inquiry Methodology in the School of Education at Indiana University, USA. She teaches research methods courses, in