AFLS Basic Communication Indicators and Emerging Critical Thinking in Autistic Learners During Jigsaw Tasks

Functional communication may provide an accessible context for examining how autistic learners recognise problems, evaluate alternatives, and seek assistance. This descriptive, nonexperimental study explored behaviours associated with two Basic Communication indicators from the Assessment of Functional Living Skills (AFLS): requesting missing items and requesting information. Five Grade 1 learners in Phase A, comprising two girls and three boys, participated at a special school in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Data comprised classroom observations, interviews, and documentation during simple jigsaw activities with missing pieces. A researcher-developed observation rubric organised 13 indicators under analysis, evaluation, and solution generation, using four developmental rating categories. M, H, and Z were described as showing more independent searching and requesting, whereas A relied more on nonverbal communication and R required greater redirection and displayed distress. These behaviours illustrate variation in task-specific problem recognition and functional communication; they do not establish improvement in general critical thinking. Inconsistencies between the item-level descriptions and the aggregate score table prevented reliable numerical synthesis. Caregiver accounts suggested that opportunities to initiate requests differed across home environments, although causal effects of parenting were not tested. Selected AFLS indicators can structure observation of emerging problem-solving behaviours, provided that communication access, prompting, and emotional regulation are considered. Further research requires validated indicators, consistent scoring, and repeated observations.