Delays and deficits in language are among the defining features of autism. Deficits in the domain of pragmatics, which involves the ability to use language in appropriate ways to communicate with others, are universally found in autism. Our ongoing research has shown that these pragmatic deficits are closely related to theory of mind impairments in children with autism. We have also found that among relatively high-functioning children with autism, about one-half demonstrate significant impairments in linguistic knowledge, and that these impairments mirror the profile of deficits that define specific language impairment (SLI). We hypothesize that this group of language impaired children with autism represents an important subtype that suggests overlap between these two disorders: autism and SLI. We plan to follow up these findings in experiments on language processing skills in children with autism, children with SLI and normal controls. Four series of experiments are proposed that investigate: (1) Phonological representations -deficits in non-word repetition and discrimination; (2) Morpho-syntax -deficits in grammatical knowledge related to marking tense using natural language samples, judgement and reaction-time tasks; (3) Prosody -the use of prosodic information in the speech signal to disambiguate syntactic information, or to convey a speaker?s emotional state; and (4) Word learning and naming -use of phonological or speaker?s intention cues to words presented in different contexts. We hypothesize that the subgroup of language impaired children with autism will perform like the SLI children in the experiments that tap phonological and grammatical knowledge. In contrast all the children with autism will perform worse that the SLI and normal controls on those experiments that entail inferring or using knowledge about speakers emotions or intentions. The findings from these studies will provide important new information about the language impairments in both autism and SLI and help to refine the language impaired subtype in autism for future genetic and neuroimaging studies.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Program--Cooperative Agreements (U19)
Project #
2U19DC003610-07
Application #
6690111
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZHD1)
Project Start
2002-09-01
Project End
2007-07-31
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
7
Fiscal Year
2002
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Type
DUNS #
604483045
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Keehn, Brandon; Joseph, Robert M (2016) Slowed Search in the Context of Unimpaired Grouping in Autism: Evidence from Multiple Conjunction Search. Autism Res 9:333-9
Keehn, Brandon; Joseph, Robert M (2016) Exploring What's Missing: What Do Target Absent Trials Reveal About Autism Search Superiority? J Autism Dev Disord 46:1686-98
Tager-Flusberg, Helen (2015) Defining language impairments in a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder. Sci China Life Sci 58:1044-52
Joseph, Robert M; Fricker, Zachary; Fenoglio, Angela et al. (2014) Structural asymmetries of language-related gray and white matter and their relationship to language function in young children with ASD. Brain Imaging Behav 8:60-72
Grossman, Ruth B; Edelson, Lisa R; Tager-Flusberg, Helen (2013) Emotional facial and vocal expressions during story retelling by children and adolescents with high-functioning autism. J Speech Lang Hear Res 56:1035-44
Novogrodsky, Rama (2013) Subject pronoun use by children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Clin Linguist Phon 27:85-93
Knaus, Tracey A; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Foundas, Anne L (2012) Sylvian fissure and parietal anatomy in children with autism spectrum disorder. Behav Neurol 25:327-39
Knaus, Tracey A; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Mock, Jeffrey et al. (2012) Prefrontal and occipital asymmetry and volume in boys with autism spectrum disorder. Cogn Behav Neurol 25:186-94
Grossman, Ruth B; Tager-Flusberg, Helen (2012) ""Who said that?"" Matching of low- and high-intensity emotional prosody to facial expressions by adolescents with ASD. J Autism Dev Disord 42:2546-57
Grossman, Ruth B; Tager-Flusberg, Helen (2012) Quality matters! Differences between expressive and receptive non-verbal communication skills in adolescents with ASD. Res Autism Spectr Disord 6:1150-1155

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