Christiane A. M. Baltaxe

Language Patterns of Adolescent Autistics.

The language samples of seven verbal autistic adolescents were analyzed. Linguistic deficits were compared to characteristics reported for preteen autistics and described structurally. Only four subjects demonstrated linguistic impairments. These clustered primarily in the area of prosodic features, semantic cooccurrence constraints and general disfluency. No such clustering had been reported for the preteen population. No correlation between linguistic deficits, IQ, and age was found. However, performance on the Seashore Test for Musical Ability correlated highly with linguistic performance. Results suggest that (a) autism includes linguistically, and possibly etiologically, distinct subgroups; (b) the basic linguistic deficits in autism may be more specific than thought previously; and (c) perception of prosodie features may be crucial for decoding and encoding linguistic signals. Autistic children may be lacking in this ability.

Cohesion in the discourse interaction of autistic, specifically language-impaired, and normal children.

This study examines discourse cohesion in young normal, specifically language-impaired, and autistic children. The Halliday and Hasan (1976) approach was applied to investigate cohesion strategies used in interactive discourse by 10 autistic, 8 specifically language-impaired, and 8 normal children matched for language age (MLU, receptive vocabulary and syntax). The following questions were investigated: (a) Do all three groups use the same cohesion strategies in their discourse, and if so, do they use these strategies with the same rate and with the same patterning? (b) What can be said with respect to the errors the individual groups make? Results showed that all three groups used the same cohesion strategies. All groups were similar in patterning. Significant group differences were found in the overall rate of correct use and in the use of individual cohesive ties. The groups also differed significantly in overall error rates, and error rates related to individual tie categories. Results are discussed from the perspective of possible variables contributing to group differences. Frequency of occurrence in natural discourse is discussed in terms of specific cohesive strategies used by the children.

The Use of Primary Sentence Stress by Normal, Aphasic, and Autistic Children.

Primary sentence stress is an important aspect of the English prosodic system. Its adequate use is a prerequisite in the development of normal intonation patterns. This study examined the use of primary sentence stress in autistic children with mean length of utterance (MLU) scores between 1.9 and 4.1 morphemes. Normal and aphasic subjects at similar MLU levels served as contrast groups. The primary sentence task required that the subjects verbally respond to a request for information and provide a description of a play situation. Toy manipulation was used to elicit the desired responses. Listener judgment served as the basis for analyzing results. Although all subjects were able to perform the task, differences were seen in the number of correct responses and in the pattern of stress misassignment. These results are at variance with a prediction of stress placement on grammatical grounds. An explanation is offered, based on pragmatic considerations and cognitive developmental trends in young children.

A Comparison of Language Issues in High-Functioning Autism and Related Disorders with Onset in Childhood and Adolescence

Speech, language, and communication in autism present a heterogeneous and complex picture that has fascinated clinicians and researchers since Kanner’s (1943) original description of the syndrome. Deficits in these areas have been studied from the perspectives of normal language development, their relationship to cognition, and more recently, their relationship to socialization and affect (Baron-Cohen, 1988, 1989a; Hobson, 1986; Sigman, Mundy, Sherman & Ungerer, 1986). Important variables in these studies have included IQ, age, language acquisition history, and age of onset, as well as remedial and pharmacological intervention. While language function can vary considerably based on these variables, communication behaviors in autism appear to remain flawed in specific ways and constitute an essential aspect of the total diagnostic picture. Foremost are impairments in pragmatics, or the use of language in a social context. Fillmore (1981) characterized the are of pragmatics from a structural-functional perspective as “a three-termed relationship that unites (a) linguistic form and (b) the communicative functions that these forms are capable of serving, with (c) the contexts or settings in which those linguistic forms can have those communicative functions” (p. 144). Recent reviews of pragmatic deficits in autism are provided by Watson (1988) and Baron-Cohen (1988).

Referencing skills in children with autism and specific language impairment

This study presents the data on the referencing strategies used in dialogue by 10 young autistic children, eight with specific language impairment, and eight with normal language development. The three groups of children were matched for language age (including mean length of utterance (MLU), receptive vocabulary, and syntax). Correct and erroneous use of pronominal, demonstrative, and comparative cohesive ties of reference were examined by use of Halliday and Hasans (1976) method of discourse cohension analysis. The study found that autistic children were able to use all of the above cohesive ties of reference, but their use was less successful than that of the other two groups of children. The autistic children also differed qualitatively in the types of errors that they made. Findings were discussed in relation to various developmental, linguistic, and social factors that may underlie the successful usage of different cohesive ties and subtypes of ties.

Vocal communication of affect and its perception in three- to four-year-old children

Little information is available on very young childrens identification of vocal-verbal expressions of affect and the accurate differentiation of various affect types. The present study examined the perception of affective prosodic intonation patterns in 10 normal children aged 39 to 48 months. Audio-recordings of affective intonation patterns (angry, happy, neutral, and sad) served as perceptual stimuli. The children were asked to match each auditory stimulus with an appropriate visual-facial representation. Analysis showed that childrens correct identification exceeded errors by more than 2 to 1. There was a significant difference in the identification of different types of emotions. All types of affect, except neutral, occurred above chance. Misperceptions from all categories fell predominantly into the happy category, an apparent “pollyanna” effect Receptive language age, sex, and IQ did not affect the outcome, but chronological age did. Results are discussed in terms of perceptual salience of acoustic parameters and other factors. Possible effects of emotional trauma on the performance of one subject are discussed.

Discourse cohesion in the verbal interactions of individuals diagnosed with autistic disorder or schizotypal personality disorder

Autistic disorder and schizotypal personality disorder have been characterised as social communication spectrum disorders. However, it is not clear whether, or by what parameters, the two disorders differ with regard to social use of language. This study compares highfunctioning adolescents with autism and cognitively similar adolescents with schizotypal personality disorder in one aspect of social language use, namely referencing. Cohesion analysis is used to examine pronominal, demonstrative, and comparative references in dialogue from semi-structured interviews. The study finds that adolescents with schizotypal personality disorder use cohesiveties of reference more often and more correctly than do the adolescents with autism. However, both groups have similar rates, types, and patterns of cohesive reference errors. These results indicate that referencing skills in individuals with autism and schizotypal personality disorder are faulty in similar ways, producing similar disruptive effects on the smooth...