scholarly journals Reduced sensitivity to context in language comprehension: A characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorders or of poor structural language ability?

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 284-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Eberhardt ◽  
Aparna Nadig
Author(s):  
Fei Chen ◽  
Gang Peng

Purpose Previous studies have shown enhanced pitch and impaired time perception in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, it remains unclear whether such deviated patterns of auditory processing depending on acoustic dimensions would transfer to the higher level linguistic pitch and time processing. In this study, we compared the categorical perception (CP) of lexical tones and voice onset time (VOT) in Mandarin Chinese, which utilize pitch and time changes, respectively, to convey phonemic contrasts. Method The data were collected from 22 Mandarin-speaking adolescents with ASD and 20 age-matched neurotypical controls. In addition to the identification and discrimination tasks to test CP performance, all the participants were evaluated with their language ability and phonological working memory. Linear mixed-effects models were constructed to evaluate the identification and discrimination scores across different groups and conditions. Results The basic CP pattern of cross-boundary benefit when perceiving both native lexical tones and VOT was largely preserved in high-functioning adolescents with ASD. The degree of CP of lexical tones in ASD was similar to that in typical controls, whereas the degree of CP of VOT in ASD was greatly reduced. Furthermore, the degree of CP of lexical tones correlated with language ability and digit span in ASD participants. Conclusions These findings suggest that the unbalanced acoustic processing capacities for pitch and time can be generalized to the higher level linguistic processing in ASD. Furthermore, the higher degree of CP of lexical tones correlated with better language ability in Mandarin-speaking individuals with ASD.


Brain ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 132 (7) ◽  
pp. 1941-1952 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. J. Y. Tesink ◽  
J. K. Buitelaar ◽  
K. M. Petersson ◽  
R. J. van der Gaag ◽  
C. C. Kan ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muideen O Bakare ◽  
Kerim M Munir

<p><strong>Objectives.</strong> Characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in Africa are not known because of unavailability of large-scale epidemiological studies in this region. This review explored the age at first presentation to orthodox clinical practice of African children with ASDs and their expressive language ability at presentation.</p><p><strong>Methods.</strong> A literature search of case series and case reports of ASDs from Africa was done through PubMed/MEDLINE, Google Scholar, African Journals Online (AJOL), and archives of the Nigerian Journal of Psychiatry. Six articles included content relating to age of the child at first presentation to orthodox clinical practice and symptoms at presentation related to expressive language ability and therefore fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Suggestions are made to explain the observations emanating from the review.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Results.</strong> An excess of non-verbal over verbal cases of ASDs have been presenting to orthodox clinical practice and there is a common denominator of late presentation/diagnosis and in turn late intervention, with most cases presenting for the first time well above 8 years of age. Attempts to explain these observations included low levels of knowledge and awareness about ASDs in Africa; problems with help-seeking behaviour; and lack of mental healthcare facilities and trained personnel.</p><p><strong>Conclusions.</strong> Enhancement of processes directed at ensuring early diagnosis and interventions, especially interventions aimed at improving speech and language development well and sufficiently early, may bring about a shift in the trend of excess non-verbal cases of ASDs over verbal cases presenting to orthodox clinical practice.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 1095-1104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathelijne M.J.Y. Tesink ◽  
Jan K. Buitelaar ◽  
Karl Magnus Petersson ◽  
Rutger Jan van der Gaag ◽  
Jan-Pieter Teunisse ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1494-1508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Andrés-Roqueta ◽  
Napoleon Katsos

Purpose Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and children with developmental language disorder (DLD) face challenges with pragmatics, but the nature and sources of these difficulties are not fully understood yet. The purpose of this study was to compare the competence of children with ASD and children with DLD in two pragmatics tasks that place different demands on theory of mind (ToM) and structural language. Method Twenty Spanish-speaking children with ASD, 20 with DLD, and 40 age- and language-matched children with neurotypical development were assessed using two pragmatics tasks: a linguistic pragmatics task, which requires competence with structural language, and a social pragmatics task, which requires competence with ToM as well. Results For linguistic pragmatics, the ASD group performed similarly to the DLD and language-matched groups, and performance was predicted by structural language. For social pragmatics, the ASD group performed lower than the DLD and language-matched groups, and performance was predicted both by structural language and ToM. Conclusions Children with ASD and children with DLD face difficulties in linguistic pragmatics tasks, in keeping with their structural language. Children with ASD face exceptional difficulties with social pragmatics tasks, due to their difficulties with ToM. The distinction between linguistic and social pragmatic competences can inform assessment and intervention for pragmatic difficulties in different populations.


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