Gilbert MacKay’s research while affiliated with University of Strathclyde and other places

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Publications (2)


A Comparative Study of Figurative Language in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
  • Article

February 2004

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885 Reads

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151 Citations

Child Language Teaching and Therapy

Gilbert MacKay

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Adrienne Shaw

Difficulties with figurative language have been highlighted by many researchers and people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs) as a core problem of the condition. However, few tests exist which describe and assess the responses of children with autism to figurative language. This paper reports a study which evaluated figurative language skills in able children with ASD. A group of children with ASD and a group of age-matched peers with no ASD were compared using a test of figurative language devised for the investigation. The test focused on understanding the meaning of an utterance and understanding the intentionality behind an utterance. Six categories of figurative language were examined. In all six, the controls with no ASD performed more successfully than the group with ASD, at statistically significant levels in most cases. The study also showed qualitative idiosyncrasies among those with ASD. The results are discussed in terms of their clinical and theoretical importance.


The Disappearance of Disability? Thoughts on a Changing Culture

May 2003

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65 Reads

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36 Citations

British Journal of Special Education

Gilbert MacKay was appointed professor of special education at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow in September 2000. With a background in teaching and educational psychology, Professor MacKay has research interests in early communication and people with intellectual disabilities. Recently, the Scottish Executive awarded him grants totalling £250,000 for the development of a service for young children with autism and for the professional education of experienced teachers in developmental difficulties such as dyspraxia. This paper, originally given as a keynote address at the Scottish NASEN conference in Glasgow, challenges many of the prevailing trends in relation to disability and special educational needs. Taking a broad view of developments since Warnock, and providing a fascinating insight into recent initiatives in Scotland, Gilbert MacKay offers an analysis of five ways in which the notion of disability, and the practical reality of our responses to it, are being unhelpfully removed from the educational arena. While we can all strive to promote forms of inclusion that encompass ever–widening parameters of diversity, no one’s interests are served if the implications of individuals’ difficulties are simply ignored or wished away. Gilbert MacKay highlights the dangers in some recent trends but also points the way towards a much more responsive and productive future.

Citations (2)


... While the debate about the language skills of individuals with ASD continues, a substantial body of research indicates impairments in understanding figurative language among individuals with ASD (e.g., Happé, 1993Happé, , 1994Kalandadze et al., 2018;Mac-Kay & Shaw, 2004). Specifically, they tend to interpret figurative language literally (Happé, 1993;MacKay & Shaw, 2004). ...

Reference:

Differences in Irony Comprehension Between Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typically Developing Individuals: A Three-Level Meta-Analysis
A Comparative Study of Figurative Language in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders
  • Citing Article
  • February 2004

Child Language Teaching and Therapy

... Cigman (2007b), building on Margalit (1996), stresses that respect in education is often seen as an attempt to avoid the humiliation that any kind of a recognition of difference can bring about. This is a reason why difference tends to be replaced by the neutral notion of diversity (MacKay, 2002) and respect comes to be translated into a demand for inclusion for all (Tremain, 2005), so denying a recognition of individual differences, needs, or preferences. ...

The Disappearance of Disability? Thoughts on a Changing Culture
  • Citing Article
  • May 2003

British Journal of Special Education