Autism and Developmental Language Impairments最新文献

Background and aims: The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2) is considered a "gold standard" diagnostic instrument in the assessment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Monkey Cartoon task is an optional pictured storytelling task in ADOS-2, which has been designed to assess gestural and verbal communication in autistic children while telling a story. It is well established that storytelling is challenging for autistic children, particularly for the content and coherent organization of the story, also known as narrative macrostructure. Existing evidence on the efficacy of the Monkey Cartoon task to pinpoint differences between autistic and neurotypical individuals in narrative macrostructure is scant. In this study, we used a version of the Monkey Cartoon task with modified scoring to analyze the narrative macrostructural skills of two groups of children with and without ASD. We also investigated the relations between narrative macrostructure and language ability in each group.

Methods: A group of 16 Greek-speaking autistic children and 16 age- and IQ-matched neurotypical children were administered the Monkey Cartoon storytelling task. Children's vocabulary and syntactic skills were also measured. Narratives were analyzed in terms of macrostructural features, including story completeness and story grammar, as well as units denoting the setting, internal responses and added details.

Results: The autistic children had lower scores in communicating the story content rather than story grammar. Moreover, the autistic group tended to include less information on the story's setting and more off-topic utterances than their neurotypical peers. Regarding the relations between narrative macrostructure and language ability, the two groups dissociated since the autistic children tended to rely on vocabulary at the expense of including irrelevant information in their narratives, while neurotypical children relied on both lexical and syntactic skills, especially when instantiating references to the story characters' mental states and the setting of the story, respectively.

Conclusions: The Monkey Cartoon storytelling task seems to be efficient at revealing pragmatic weaknesses mainly at the thematic content level in autistic children. Also, the frequent use of semantically- and pragmatically-irrelevant information in storytelling differentiated autistic from neurotypical children, and may thus be treated as a distinguishing feature of ASD in narrative production.

Implications: The findings demonstrate the viability of the Monkey Cartoon task in highlighting language markers of ASD in narrative macrostructure, with clinical implications for enhancing clinical practice in countries like Greece that face a shortage of narrative assessment tools for autistic children.

Background and aims: Pragmatic language difficulties can negatively influence the learning, socialization, and mental health of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Several studies have sought to determine the effects of interventions, including competencies to help these children use language for social purposes. However, are the instruments used to measure the results of the interventions appropriate and psychometrically adequate? This systematic review aims to analyze the psychometric properties of the standardized instruments that are used to measure the effects of interventions addressing (not exclusively, but also) pragmatic language competencies for autistic children.

Method: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, systematic literature research was carried out in four electronic indexing databases: CENTRAL, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus.

Results: A total of 49 studies from 2005 to 2023 were included and 19 standardized instruments were identified.

Conclusions: After analyzing the instruments psychometric properties, the results indicated that all present some evidence of validity and reliability, but none report responsiveness. Implications: Given the impact that an instrument can have on analyzing the effects of an intervention, this study highlights the importance of considering not only the validity and reliability of an instrument but also responsiveness as a psychometric property, and the need to better describe the rationale for the outcome measures and specify what abilities are being targeted and measured. This will accurately guide future research and improve clinical decision-making around ASD.

It is important that autism research is inclusive and supports the participation of a wide range of autistic people. However, there has been limited research on how to make studies accessible for autistic participants. This mixed-methods study explored how to promote the comfort of autistic children in research, using the specific example of visiting a research lab and meeting a humanoid robot. In Phase 1, 14 parents of autistic children were interviewed about how their child could be made comfortable during a lab visit, including different approaches for familiarizing their child with the robot. In Phase 2, autistic children of the parents in Phase 1 (n = 10) visited the lab and completed familiarization activities with a humanoid robot. The opinions of the children and their parents about the children's experiences were recorded. Using reflexive thematic analysis, five overarching themes reflected how to best support autistic child participants. These themes encompassed elements of particular relevance to robot studies but also many practices of general relevance to participating in research: (1) preparation is key, (2) consideration of environmental factors, (3) using familiarization, (4) a supportive and engaged researcher, and (5) individualized approaches. Based on our findings, we report preliminary and generalizable best-practice recommendations to support autistic children in a research setting and promote positive experiences.

Background and aims: While it has been suggested that phonology is relatively spared in autism, some studies have shown that many autistic children and adolescents exhibit severe phonological impairment, of which syllabic complexity is a reliable index. However, although autism is a lifelong disorder, no such evidence exists for adults. The aim of the present study is to bridge this knowledge gap by investigating how autistic adults deal with phonological complexity.

Method: Phonological abilities were assessed in 48 autistic adults aged 18 to 56 years and 50 controls matched on age and sex/gender. A linguistically motivated Nonword Repetition (NWR) task manipulating syllabic complexity, LITMUS-QU(Quasi Universal)-FR(ench)-NWR-Adults, was used to distinguish participants with and without a phonological impairment. In addition to the NWR task, additional tests were conducted to examine potential factors influencing phonological performance. These measures included morphosyntax, vocabulary, nonverbal IQ (NVIQ), short-term memory, working memory, and autism severity, providing a comprehensive understanding of variables affecting phonological abilities in autistic adults.

Results: Global performance on NWR was significantly lower and spanned a wider range in the autism group than that in the control group. By looking at individual results across the structures and substructures included in NWR, which presented varying degrees of syllabic complexity, it was possible to uncover great variability among autistic individuals with a phonologicalimpairment. Phonological proficiency appeared to be related to morphosyntax rather than to lexical knowledge and nonverbal cognition, including memory. Moreover, phonological skills did not correlate with autism severity.

Conclusions: This study represents a first step towards understanding how to characterize phonological skills in autistic adults. Our findings indicate that syllabic complexity prompts diverse behaviors among autistic individuals with impaired phonology. Further research is required to gain insight into the cause(s) underlying the detected difficulties.

Understanding what people believe the causes of autism to be has implications for experiences of familial guilt and stigma. Using a qualitative approach, we investigated how Brazilian healthcare professionals, parents of young and adult autistic people and young and adult autistic people consider the origins of autism and the interaction between the biological and social environment concerning the challenges autistic people encounter. Eight health professionals who assist autistic people, five young autistic people, six family members of young autistic people, five autistic adults, and four parents of autistic adults participated in the research. After analysis, two major coding themes emerged from the interviews: (T1) Perceived origins of autism: genetic, environmental, or both, (T2) The impact of the structured family environment. Our respondents consider autism in Brazil strongly related to genetic origins and little to environmental and social origins. At the same time, the context of the structured social and family environment can influence challenges and opportunities for autistic people.

Background and aims: Teachers serve as critical communication partners for students with intellectual disability (ID) who face communication difficulties. However, teachers may lack sufficient training in using communication partner strategies and augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) in the classroom. This study aimed to explore teacher application of a communication partner intervention (AKKtiv ComPal) in schools for students with ID.

Methods: Video observations were conducted at four schools during a teacher-led group activity at pre- and postintervention, with follow-up 7 months later, focusing on communication partner strategies and AAC use applied as a universal approach in the classroom. Differences and similarities in intervention application and contextual factors that may influence teacher application were investigated using a multiple case study approach, in which the four teachers and their contexts served as the four examined cases.

Results: All cases increased the access to communication boards in the classroom and used more augmented input and responsive strategies following intervention. Follow-up measures revealed variability in augmented input and sustained or more use of responsive strategies. Despite increased strategy use, access to communication boards remained inconsistent, and augmented input was used with variability across observation minutes. Influencing factors to teacher application seemed to be classroom setups (such as having a table), previous AAC skills, student characteristics, and postintervention efforts such as repeating the intervention or participating in follow-up sessions.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that classroom teachers for students with ID can use augmented input and responsive strategies as a universal design approach in the classroom following the AKKtiv ComPal intervention. However, teachers may utilize the strategies somewhat differently, partly influenced by their contextual factors.

Implications: The findings suggest that while teachers for students with ID can successfully use communication partner strategies in the classroom, their use of augmented input should be nurtured over time to ensure sustained use and possibly improve consistency. Additionally, adapting to the physical environment of the classroom is crucial to optimize the application of these strategies.

Background and aims: A substantial minority of autistic individuals score within typical ranges on standard language tests, suggesting that autism does not necessarily affect language acquisition. This idea is reflected in current diagnostic criteria for autism, wherein language impairment is no longer included. However, some work has suggested that probing autistic speakers' language carefully may reveal subtle differences between autistic and nonautistic people's language that cannot be captured by standardized language testing. The current study aims to test this idea, by determining whether a group of autistic and nonautistic individuals who score similarly on a standardized test show differences in the number of unconventional and erroneous language features they produce in a spontaneous language sample.

Methods: Thirty-eight older children and adolescents (19 autistic; 19 nonautistic), between the ages of 10 and 18, were recruited. Both participant groups scored within normal ranges on standardized language and IQ tests. Participants engaged in a "double interview" with an experimenter, during which they were first asked questions by the experimenter about themselves, and then they switched roles, so that it was the participant's turn to ask the experimenter questions. Participants' language during the interview was transcribed and analyzed for linguistic irregularities, including both semantic anomalies and morphosyntactic errors.

Results: Group membership accounted for significant variance in irregularity frequency; autistic participants produced more linguistic irregularities than nonautistic participants. Scores on a standardized language test did not improve model fit. Secondary analyses involving irregularity type (semantic vs. morphosyntactic) showed that group differences were primarily driven by relatively high numbers of semantic unconventionalities produced by the autistic group. While the autistic group made more morphosyntactic errors than the nonautistic group, differences in these numbers were only marginally significant.

Conclusions and implications: These findings suggest that a commonly used standardized language test does not adequately predict the number and perhaps type of language irregularities produced by some older autistic children and adolescents during spontaneous discourse. Results also suggest that differences in language use, especially semantic differences, may characterize autistic language, even the language produced by people who score within normal ranges on standardized language tests. It is debatable whether differences reflect underlying language impairments and/or a linguistic style adopted/preferred by autistic speakers. In this paper, we discuss both possibilities and offer suggestions to future research for teasing these possibilities apart.

Background and aims: Autistic children can experience challenges in making and maintaining friendships, and middle childhood (ages 6-12) may be particularly challenging as social networks become more complex. However, a large proportion of research into these experiences is based on adult reports or focuses on the experiences of adolescents, meaning that the voices of younger children are absent. Due to the exclusion of younger children from research, we have a limited understanding of their first-hand experiences of their friendships and the support they receive, which has implications for friendship support and wellbeing. This study aimed to amplify the voices of younger autistic children to explore their first-hand experiences of friendships and highlight areas of social support which may be most beneficial to primary-aged autistic children.

Methods: This study used novel creative methods to support interviews with 19 autistic primary school-aged children to explore their experiences of friendship. Parent-led interviews and scrapbooks supported the children in discussing the challenges and strengths of their friendships.

Results: Children discussed the challenges and strengths of their friendships including the impact of social norms on the need to have friends and their support needs in this area of life. Children also discussed gaps in their current friendships and how they would like to see these filled. It was clear that not all children required or wanted neurotypical-style friendships, with many valuing companionship and gameplay over intimacy. Analysis highlighted the heterogeneity of autistic children's friendships, especially in relation to gender and age, calling for more tailored and individualized support.

Conclusion and implications: Results from the current study show that autistic children can and do have successful friendships but that these friendships may differ from those of their non-autistic peers. The study further adds to the existing literature by showing that younger autistic children can be included in research by using differentiated, accessible and creative methods, and that they are able to voice their opinions on matters surrounding support. It also calls for a tailored approach to supporting autistic children in school and speaking with children to give them autonomy over the support they want to receive.

Background and aims: Current evidence shows that children with developmental language disorder (DLD) benefit from spaced retrieval during word learning activities. Word recall is quite good relative to recall with alternative word learning procedures. However, recall on an absolute basis can be improved further; many studies report that fewer than two-thirds of the words are learned, even with the assistance of spaced retrieval during the learning activities. In this article we identify details of spaced retrieval that are less well understood in an effort to promote more effective learning through retrieval practice.

Main contribution: We discuss the importance of factors such as: (a) integrating immediate retrieval with spaced retrieval trials; (b) determining whether gradual increases in spacing have more than short-term benefits relative to equal spacing; (c) discovering the number of successful retrievals sufficient to ensure later recall; (d) using spaced retrieval to avoid erosion of phonetic details on later recall tests; and (e) whether the well-documented difficulties with learning word forms might be tied to a particular subgroup of children with DLD. We also speculate on some of the possible reasons why spaced retrieval is beneficial in the first place.

Conclusions: Although many children with DLD make gains in word learning through procedures that incorporate spaced retrieval, there are numerous details involved in the process that can alter its success. Until we have a better understanding of the boundaries of spaced retrieval's effectiveness, we will not be taking full advantage of this promising addition to word learning procedures.

Implications: Spaced retrieval activities can be an important addition to the resources that clinicians and educators have available to assist children in their word learning. With a deeper understanding of the issues discussed here, we should be able to put spaced retrieval to even greater use.