Psyche, language and autism: contributions from semiotics within educational contexts

ABSTRACT This article presents a case study that evidences the structures of thought and language of a child diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), pointing out how educational practices were included in the child's contexts. This manuscript emerged from results obtained from a broader research, developed by the first author of this article, from 2015 to 2017. It was a qualitative study that, as a whole, analyzed the specific patterns of functioning of the psyche and language of four children, one adolescent and two adults with ASD. For this article, we prioritized only data referring to one of the four children: a seven-years-old boy. Data interpretation was based on the premises of Bakhtinian and Vygotskian semiotic theory. The findings indicate that the relationship of autistic people with the world is more complex, because it is more direct than mediated, which generates disorders of language and, consequently, of communication and social interaction. These issues can be softened by cultural processes of materialization of the meanings of signs included in the discourses of their interlocutors.