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The social deficits associated with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been implicated in the language delays and deficits of children with ASD. Consequently, the extent to which children with ASD utilize their language-related interactions and input in the same ways as typically developing children is only just beginning to be investigated. The...
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Context 1
... The children with ASD in both cohorts lived in the Northeastern United States, were receiving between 5 and 30 hours of applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy a week, 4 and had been diagnosed with autism or pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified by clinicians; at the beginning of the study, the diagnoses were confirmed via the Autism Di- agnostic Observation Schedule. 40 Table 1 presents relevant information above the lan- guage levels of the children in each cohort. ...
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Citations
... Although many autistic preschool-aged children are nonspeaking, most will go on to acquire single words, and at least half will use phrase speech by the time they enter primary school (Anderson et al., 2007;Brignell et al., 2019;Tager-Flusberg & Kasari, 2013). In fact, by kindergarten, it is estimated that a minority (approximately 25%) of autistic children remain minimally-speaking (Anderson et al., 2007;Tager-Flusberg & Kasari, 2013) but they too can make meaningful gains in spontaneous language through evidence-supported interaction strategies (e.g. the use of joint engagement, low-demand 'follow-ins', Bottema-Beutel et al., 2014;Haebig et al., 2013;adult language modeling and expansions, McDuffy & Yoder, 2010;Naigles, 2013;Scherer & Olswang, 1989;Naturalistic Language Paradigms, e.g. Laski et al., 1988;or interventions blending AAC, joint engagement, and play;Kasari et al., 2014). ...
Background and Aim
Recently, there has been a lot of interest surrounding the term gestalt language processor (GLP) which is associated with Natural Language Acquisition (NLA): a protocol intended to support the language development of autistic people. In NLA, delayed echolalia is presumed raw source material that GLPs use to acquire language in a stage-like progression from delayed echolalia to spontaneous speech. The aim of this article is to evaluate NLA in light of relevant literatures to allow scrutiny of NLA claims.
Main contributions
First, we review the notion of gestalt language and situate it in the broader literature on language styles to update understanding of its significance. We then review the links from gestalt language processing to autism and identify definitional and conceptual problems and clarify the construct ‘episodic memory’. We discuss the ‘raw material view of delayed echolalia’ and identify theoretical and empirical shortcomings. Finally, we review Blanc’s language stages and their accompanying assessment and language support recommendations and challenge their validity.
Conclusions & Implications
The term ‘gestalt language processor’ is definitionally and conceptually troubled, the assertion that autistic people are GLPs is misleading and unhelpful, and evidence is lacking that GLP represents a legitimate clinical entity. The theoretical basis of NLA lacks empirical support. NLA stages are implausible and their accompanying assessment and support recommendations lack justification. We recommend the use of alternate, individualized, theoretically-sound, evidence-based, neurodiversity-affirming supports that are sensitive and responsive to the heterogeneity that defines autism.
... Although communication and language in children with ASD have been extensively researched (Davidson et al., 2018;Naigles, 2013;Torrens & Ruiz, 2021), when this disorder is accompanied by epilepsy, the nature and characteristics of language deficits become an evident issue that requires further investigation (Cano-Villagrasa et al., 2023). For instance, according to the DSM-5 (APA, 2013), ASD exhibits significant alterations in the pragmatic-social dimension of expressive language. ...
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy represent a comorbidity that negatively influences the proper development of linguistic competencies, particularly in receptive language, in the pediatric population. This group displays impairments in the auditory comprehension of both simple and complex grammatical structures, significantly limiting their performance in language-related activities, hampering their integration into social contexts, and affecting their quality of life. The main objective of this study was to assess auditory comprehension of grammatical structures in individuals with ASD and epilepsy and compare the results among the three groups. A non-experimental cross-sectional study was designed, including a total of 170 participants aged between 7 and 9 years, divided into three groups: a group with ASD, a group with epilepsy, and a comorbid group with both ASD and epilepsy (ASDEP). The comprehension of grammatical structures was assessed using the CEG and CELF-5 instruments. Statistical analyses included MANOVA and ANOVA to compare scores between groups to verify associations between study variables. The results indicate that the group with ASD and epilepsy performed worse compared to the ASD and epilepsy-only groups, respectively. Additionally, a significant and directly proportional association was observed among all variables within the measures of grammatical structure comprehension. The neurological damage caused by epilepsy in the pediatric population with ASD leads to difficulties in understanding oral language. This level of functioning significantly limits the linguistic performance of these children, negatively impacting their quality of life and the development of core language skills.
... Second, the study lacks measures of reliability for the experimental tasks (e.g., test-retest) and does not report inter-rater reliability, these indices are necessary to utilize the experimental tasks for clinical assessment. Third, there is an on-going discussion regarding potential distinction of input-intake in children with and without ASD (e.g., Arunachalam & Luyster 2016Naigles 2013;Tenenbaum et al. 2017). However, our study's design did not include direct measures of in-the-moment learning, limiting its ability to address these specific questions. ...
This paper discusses the use of Spoken and Standard Arabic in children with autism. We found that most children use, as predicted, Spoken Arabic (Palestinian Arabic), a variety that they are exposed to in everyday conversations. Yet, there is a subgroup of children who resort to Modern Standard Arabic, a variety that is not used in conversations but rather in books and media (e.g., cartoons on TV and YouTube). So, we conclude that "clinicians should be aware of the potential competence and preference for MSA usage in informal contexts, in some, though not all, children with ASD regardless of their structural language skills.
... In particular, we do not yet know how many autistic children, despite deficits of social cognition, still achieve functional and even advanced language (Naigles & Chin, 2015). It has been postulated that language acquisition in this population capitalizes on implicit learning, such as SL, which can occur as a byproduct of mere exposure with minimal social interaction (Naigles, 2013(Naigles, , 2016. The presence of language delay/ impairment in autistic children might be a consequence of atypical learning mechanisms including SL (Walenski et al., 2006). ...
Statistical learning (SL), the ability to detect and extract regularities from inputs, is considered a domain-general building block for typical language development. We compared 55 verbal children with autism (ASD, 6–12 years) and 50 typically-developing children in four SL tasks. The ASD group exhibited reduced learning in the linguistic SL tasks (syllable and letter), but showed intact learning for the nonlinguistic SL tasks (tone and image). In the ASD group, better linguistic SL was associated with higher language skills measured by parental report and sentence recall. Therefore, the atypicality of SL in autism is not domain-general but tied to specific processing constraints related to verbal stimuli. Our findings provide a novel perspective for understanding language heterogeneity in autism.
... Alongside with this, the vocabulary breadth of mothers of children with ASD is also known to determine the number of words known by their children. However, mothers' grammar skills don't seem to influence the grammatical competence of their children (21). Semantic methods based on the teacher's emotional response are not very beneficial for the vocabulary acquisition of children with ASD due to the lack of theory of mind (22). ...
Objective: The aim of this research is to describe the processing of neural response metaphors in individuals with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) speaking Turkish as their native language and to form the basis for further research in this field.
Methods: In this study, a single case study method was used. The data was collected by means of a structured questionnaire. The answers
were recorded with the “Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts” (SALT) program, and the data obtained was summarised using descriptive
analysis.
Results: It was found out that the participant had difficulty comprehending, interpreting and using mimics and gestures. He struggled matching
emotions and situations with expressions denoting them as well as determining how a person experiencing these emotions and situations
might look like. The participant turned out to have reduced ability to interpret idioms and proverbs related to emotions, decide on what actions
can be performed at the given place, and form a situation-effect relationship. The participant experienced problems interpreting and using
new, formulaic, and malformed metaphors as well metaphors with literal meaning, and could hardly identify and correctly interpret conceptual
metaphors within idioms and proverbs.
Conclusion: People with ASD experience difficulty with processing of neural response metaphors by the native speakers of Turkish. The disorders
identified within the scope of our research result from the deficiencies of the theory of mind in individuals with ASD, which is supported by
other studies on individuals with ASD having different mother tongues.
Keywords: Neurolinguistics, autism spectrum disorder, language disorder, neural theory of language, metaphor
... It has long been theorized that infants acquire language through social interaction with their primary caregivers (Bruner, 1975). Various features of caregiver interaction behavior-including the quantity, quality, and responsiveness of adult communicative and linguistic contributions during caregiver-child interactions-are proposed to shape infants' early language trajectories (Naigles, 2013;Rowe, 2012;Smith et al., 2021). Quantity of caregiver input refers to the amount of adult language used during interaction with the child, while input quality concerns the semantic and syntactic diversity of an adult's contributions (Smith et al., 2021). ...
While theory supports bidirectional effects between caregiver sensitivity and language use, and infant language acquisition-both caregiver-to-infant and also infant-to-caregiver effects-empirical research has chiefly explored the former unidirectional path. In the context of infants showing early signs of autism, we investigated prospective bidirectional associations with 6-min free-play interaction samples collected for 103 caregivers and their infants (mean age 12-months; and followed up 6-months later). We anticipated that measures of caregiver sensitivity/language input and infant language would show within-domain temporal stability/continuity, but also that there would be predictive associations from earlier caregiver input to subsequent child language, and vice versa. Caregiver sensitive responsiveness (from the Manchester Assessment of Caregiver-Infant interaction [MACI]) predicted subsequent infant word tokens (i.e., amount of language, coded following the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts [SALT]). Further, earlier infant Mean Length of Utterance (MLU; reflecting language complexity, also derived from SALT coding) predicted later caregiver MLU, even when controlling for variability in infant ages and clear within-domain temporal stability/continuity in key measures (i.e., caregiver sensitive responsiveness and infant word tokens; and infant and caregiver MLU). These data add empirical support to theorization on how caregiver input can be both supportive of, and potentially influenced by, infant capacities, when infants have social-communication differences and/or communication/language delays suggestive of possible emerging autism.
... All three groups of child participants were native Mandarin speakers. The children in the autistic group were diagnosed by qualified paediatricians or child psychiatrists in local hospitals on the basis of the fourth or the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000, 2013. The clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder was further confirmed using three metrics. ...
... C. Best & McRoberts, 2003;Kuhl, 2004;Maye et al., 2002). Autistic children, whose low joint attention ability constrains language input, have less experience of language exchange than their chronologically matched non-autistic peers (Naigles, 2013), giving rise to relatively poor CP performance. The language experience of autistic children is believed to be closer to that of younger non-autistic children. ...
Enhanced pitch perception has been identified in autistic individuals, but it remains understudied whether such enhancement can be observed in the lexical tone perception of language-delayed autistic children. This study examined the categorical perception of Mandarin lexical tones in 23 language-delayed autistic children and two groups of non-autistic children, with one matched on chronological age ( n = 23) and the other on developmental age in language ability ( n = 23). The participants were required to identify and discriminate lexical tones. A wider identification boundary width and a lower between-category discrimination accuracy were found in autistic children than their chronological-age-matched non-autistic peers, but the autistic group exhibited seemingly comparable performance to the group of developmental-age-matched non-autistic children. While both non-autistic groups displayed a typical categorical perception pattern with enhanced sensitivity to between-category tone pairs relative to within-category ones, such a categorical perception pattern was not observed in the autistic group. These findings suggest among language-delayed autistic children with a developmental age around 4, categorical perception is still developing. Finally, we found categorical perception performance correlated with language ability, indicating autistic children’s language disability might be predictive of their poor categorical perception of speech sounds.
Lay abstract
Some theories suggested that autistic people have better pitch perception skills than non-autistic people. However, in a context where pitch patterns are used to differentiate word meanings (i.e. lexical tones), autistic people may encounter difficulties, especially those with less language experience. We tested this by asking language-delayed autistic children to identify and discriminate two Mandarin lexical tones (/yi/ with Tone 1, meaning ‘clothes’; /yi/ with Tone 2, meaning ‘aunt’; /yi/: the standard romanization of Mandarin Chinese). On average, these autistic children were 7.35 years old, but their developmental age in language ability was 4.20, lagging behind 7-year-old non-autistic children in terms of language ability. Autistic children’s performance in identifying and discriminating lexical tones was compared with two groups of non-autistic children: one group was matched with the autistic group on age, and the other was matched based on language ability. Autistic children performed differently from the non-autistic children matched on age, while autistic and non-autistic children matched on language ability exhibited seemingly similar performance. However, both the non-autistic groups have developed the perceptual ability to process lexical tones as different categories, but this ability was still developing in autistic children. Finally, we found autistic children who performed worse in identifying lexical tones had poorer language ability. The results suggest that language disability might have adverse influence on the development of skills of speech sound processing.
... Studies of the general population highlight that both the quantity (i.e., overall amount) and quality (i.e., syntactic and semantic diversity) of adult language input during early interactions shape children's early language trajectories (Rowe, 2012;Smith et al., 2021). There is likewise compelling evidence of similar associations for parental input supporting the language acquisition of autistic children (Naigles, 2013). As an illustration, Fusaroli et al. (2019) discovered that autistic preschoolers had longer utterances, together with larger, richer vocabularies, when they had been exposed to longer parent utterances earlier in childhood. ...
... There is less consistency in the literature with regard to the effect of parent responsive behaviours on children's language skills in the context of autism, compared to in the general population. For example, expansions have sometimes been related to concurrent and subsequent child language (McDuffie & Yoder, 2010;Naigles, 2013) and sometimes not (Haebig et al., 2013). Surprisingly, imitations have been found to be unrelated to later language in two previous studies of parents and young autistic children (Haebig et al., 2013;McDuffie & Yoder, 2010). ...
Both the amount and responsiveness of adult language input contribute to the language development of autistic and non-autistic children. From parent–child interaction footage, we measured the amount of adult language input, overall parent responsiveness, and six discrete parent responsive behaviours ( imitations , expansions , open-ended questions , yes/no questions , comments and acknowledgements ) to explore which types of responsiveness predicted autistic preschoolers’ language five months later, after controlling for adult language input. We found expansions and particularly imitations to be more important for later language than overall responsiveness. This study emphasises the need to capture what exactly about parent language input influences child language acquisition, and adds to the evidence that imitating and expanding early language might be particularly beneficial for autistic preschoolers.
... Uma das características marcantes no TEA é o grau reduzido de envolvimento interacional com outras pessoas em seu entorno, tendo os níveis de atenção bem abaixo de crianças de seu mesmo nível de idade (Naigles, 2013). Aquieta-se ao som de voz. ...
Esta obra apresenta as relações entre os saberes construídos na academia e na prática de sala de aula manifestados pelos fazeres em contextos pedagógicos. Destacam-se relatos de práticas pedagógicas que contemplam o diálogo com o ensino e a pesquisa. Além disso, expõe ações individuais ou interdisciplinares, bem como articulação dos diversos campos epistemológicos, os elementos e componentes curriculares das reflexões, conhecimentos e experiências pedagógicas. Oportunizam, outrossim, teorizar sobre a prática cotidiana num processo reflexivo sobre o saber discente e docente.
... Caregivers of children with ASD may believe that their children with ASD do not benefit from their home linguistic environment. However, recent research has pointed to a strong and positive role of caregiver input in language acquisition of Englishlearning children with ASD (Naigles, 2013;Goodwin et al., 2015;Nadig and Bang, 2017;Fusaroli et al., 2019;Bottema-Beutel and Kim, 2020). The current study breaks new ground in investigating the emergence and productivity of elided and non-canonical word orders in Mandarin, by comparing this emergence in TD children and children with ASD, and by examining how this emergence relates to frequency of use in concurrent caregiver speech. ...
This study explores the emergence and productivity of word order usage in Mandarin-speaking typically-developing (TD) children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and examines how this emergence relates to frequency of use in caregiver input. Forty-two caregiver-child dyads participated in video-recorded 30-min semi-structured play sessions. Eleven children with ASD were matched with 10 20-month-old TD children and another 11 children with ASD were matched with 10 26-month-old TD children, on expressive language. We report four major findings: (1) Preschool Mandarin-speaking children with ASD produced word order structures with pervasive ellipsis at similar rates to language-matched TD children, but also displayed differences from TD children in their usage of SVt and VtO frames; (2) Grammatical productivity was observed in both TD children and children with ASD; moreover, children with ASD with higher expressive language produced less stereotyped language; (3) Both TD children and children with ASD heard a range of word orders in their caregivers’ input, with TD children’s input greater in amount and complexity; however, caregivers of both groups also showed no age/language-related changes in word order usage; (4) Few word-order-specific correlations emerged between caregivers and their children; however, strong correlations were observed for mean length of utterances (MLU) for both groups: Caregivers who produced longer/more complex utterances had children who did the same. Taken together, it seems that despite their pragmatic deficits, the early grammatical knowledge of word order in Mandarin-exposed children with ASD is well preserved and in general follows the typical developmental pattern. Moreover, caregiver input is broadly rather than finely tuned to the linguistic development of TD children and children with ASD, and plays a more important role in children’s general syntactic development than in specific word order acquisition. Thus, early word order usage in preschool Mandarin-speaking TD children and children with ASD may be influenced by both caregiver input and child abilities.
