Abstract
Several different methodological approaches that have been used in studying language in children with autism are outlined. In classic studies, children with autism are compared to comparison groups typically matched on age, IQ, or mental age in order to identify which aspects of language are uniquely impaired in autism. Several methodological problems are noted with this approach including (a) heterogeneity of the autism population, (b) mental retardation, (c) developmental change with age, and (d) sample size and ascertainment. An alternative strategy is suggested which focuses on identifying the complex expression of the language phenotype in autism across the full range of the syndrome. This approach explores within-group individual differences in language functioning, and recently identified distinct language phenotypic sub-groups within the autism population that are relevant to understanding the underlying genetic and neurobiological etiology of autism.
Similar content being viewed by others
Reference
Alarcon M., Cantor R., Liu J., Gilliam, T. C., Geschwind D., & AGRE Consortium (2002). Evidence for a language quantitative trait locus on chromosome 7q in multiplex autism families. American Journal of Human Genetics, 70, 60-71.
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), 4th Edition. Washington, DC: APA.
Baltaxe, C. A. M. (1977). Pragmatic deficits in the language of autistic adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 2, 176-180.
Bartak L., Rutter M., & Cox, A. (1975). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorder: I. The children. British Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 127-145.
Bartak L., Rutter M., & Cox, A. (1977). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorders: II. Discriminant function analysis. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 7, 383-396.
Bartlett C., Flax J., Logue M., Vieland V., Bassett A., Tallal P., & Brzustowicz, L. (2002). A major susceptibility locus for specific language impairment is located on 13q21. American Journal of Human Genetics, 71, 45-55.
Bartoclucci G., Pierce S., Streiner D., & Eppel, P. (1976). Phonological investigation of verbal autistic and mentally retarded subjects. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 6, 303-315.
Capps L., Kehres J., & Sigman, M. (1998). Conversational abilities among children with autism and children with developmental delays. Autism, 2, 325-344.
CLSA (2001). Incorporating language phenotypes strengthens evidence of linkage to autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 105, 539-547.
Cunningham, M. (1966). A five-year study of the language of an autistic child. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 7, 143-154.
Dawson G., Webb S., Schellenberg G., Dager S., Friedman S., Aylward E., & Richards, T. (2002). Defining the broader phenotype of autism: Genetic, brain, and behavioral perspectives. Development and Psychopathology, 14, 581-611.
Gathercole, S. E., & Baddeley, A. D. (1990). Phonological memory deficits in language disordered children: Is there a causal connection? Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 336-360.
Goldfarb W., Braunstein P., & Lorge, I. A. (1956). A study of speech patterns in a group of schizophrenic children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 26, 544-555.
Happé, F. (2003). Cognition in autism: One deficit or many? Novartis Foundation Symposium, 251, 198-207.
Hermelin B., & O'Connor, N. (1970). Psychological experiments with autistic children. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, 217-250.
Kanner, L. (1946). Irrelevant and metaphorical language. American Journal of Psychiatry, 103, 242-246.
Kjelgaard M., & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2001). An investigation of language impairment in autism: Implications for genetic subgroups. Language and Cognitive Processes, 16, 287-308.
Krug D., Arick J., & Almond, P. (1980). Behavior checklist for identifying severely handicapped individuals with high levels of autistic behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 21, 221-229.
Lord C., & Paul, R. (1997). Language and communication in autism. In D. J. Cohen & F. R. Volkmar (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders, 2nd edition (pp. 195-225). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Lord C., Rutter M., & LeCouteur, A. (1994). Autism diagnostic interview-revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 659-685.
Lord C., Risi S., Lambrecht L., Cook, E. H., Lenventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. S., Pickles A., & Rutter, M. (2000). The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 205-223.
Loveland K., Landry S., Hughes S., Hall S., & McEvoy, R. (1988). Speech acts and the pragmatic deficits of autism. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 31, 593-604.
Norbury C., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2002). Inferential processing and story recall in children with communication problems: A comparison of specific language impairment, pragmatic language impairment and high-functioning autism. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 37, 227-251.
O'Brien E., Zhang X., Nishimura C., Tomblin, J. B., & Murray, J. (2003). Association of specific language impairment (SLI) to the region of 7q31. American Journal of Human Genetics, 72, 1536-1543.
Pierce S., & Bartoclucci, G. (1977). A syntactic investigation of verbal autistic, mentally retarded and normal children. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 7, 121-134.
Pronovost W., Wakstein, M. P., & Wakstein, D. J. (1966). A longitudinal study of the speech behavior and language comprehension of fourteen children diagnosed atypical or autistic. Exceptional Children, 33, 19-26.
Rice, M. L., & Wexler, K. (1996). Toward tense as a clinical marker of specific language impairment in English-speaking children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 39, 1239-1257.
Schopler E., Reichler R., De Vellis, R. F., & Daly, K. (1980). The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) for diagnostic screening and classification of autism. New York: Irvington.
Shapiro T., & Fish, B. (1969). A method to study language deviation as an aspect of ego organization in young schizophrenic children. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 8, 36-56.
Surian L., Baron-Cohen S., & Van der Lely, H. (1996). Are children with autism deaf to Gricean maxims? Cognitive Neuropsychiatry, 1, 55-72.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (1981a). Sentence comprehension in autistic children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 2, 5-24.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (1981b). On the nature of linguistic functioning in early infantile autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 11, 45-56.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (1985). The conceptual basis for referential word meaning in children with autism. Child Development, 56, 1167-1178.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (1994). Dissociations in form and function in the acquisition of language by autistic children. In H. Tager-Flusberg (Ed.), Constraints on language acquisition: Studies of atypical children (pp. 175-194). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (2000). Understanding the language and communicative impairments in autism. In L. M. Glidden (Ed.), Autism (pp. 185-205). San Diego: Academic Press.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (2003). Language impairments in children with complex neurodevelopmental disorders: The case of autism. In Y. Levy & J. Schaeffer (Eds.), Language competence across populations: Toward a definition of specific language impairment (pp. 297-321). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Tager-Flusberg, H. (in press). Do autism and specific language impairment represent overlapping language disorders? In M. L. Rice & S. Warren (Eds.), Developmental language disorders: From phenotypes to etiologies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Tager-Flusberg H., & Anderson, M. (1991). The development of contingent discourse ability in autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 32, 1123-1134.
Tager-Flusberg H., & Cooper, J. (1999). Present and future possibilities for defining a phenotype for specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 1275-1278.
Tager-Flusberg H., & Joseph, R. M. (2003). Identifying neurocognitive phenotypes in autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Series B, 358, 303-314.
Tomblin, J. B., & Zhang, X. (1999). Language patterns and etiology in children with specific language impairment. In H. Tager-Flusberg (Ed.), Neurodevelopmental Disorders (pp. 361-382). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.
World Health Organization (1993). The international classification of diseases,10th edition.Geneva:World Health Organization.