What is Counterfactual Conditionals

This chapter reviews the broader benefits of teaching language and literacy to individuals across the autism spectrum. It discusses how language empowers communication in general and language instruction in particular. It discusses how language can also reduce frustration and anxiety and mitigate challenging behaviors. It then discusses various connections between linguistic and cognitive skills and processes and how these connections suggest ways in which language learning may increase cognitive flexibility and abstract thinking. Next, it turns to the crucial role of language in accessing the classroom curriculum, in boosting social engagement and perspective taking skills and providing opportunities for social learning. It concludes with a discussion of why individuals with autism are especially dependent on language.