Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T00:25:56.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Language and communication in autism spectrum disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

By
Susan Ellis Weismer
Edited by
Marcia A. Barnes
Marcia A. Barnes
Affiliation:
University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Get access

Summary

Introduction

Language and communication deficits are a hallmark of autism, constituting one of its major diagnostic features (ICD-10, World Health Organization, 1993; DSM-IV, American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Problems with pragmatic aspects of verbal and nonverbal communication are common, as might be expected given the social impairments that also characterize autism. Contemporary research has shifted away from concentrating primarily on pragmatics to considering linguistic features of autism more broadly, including phonological, lexical, and grammatical abilities. This shift in focus has served, at least in part, as an impetus for investigators to explore further the overlap between language difficulties seen in autism and those observed in other types of developmental language disorders. Investigating these potential overlaps has theoretical implications relative to dimensional vs. distinct category accounts of language disorder, as well as practical ramifications for early differential diagnosis. Current research in the area of autism has also expanded beyond classic autistic disorder to include children diagnosed with PDD-NOS/atypical autism and Asperger disorder, with these three pervasive developmental disorders referred to as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (Charman & Baird, 2002; Lord et al., 2000; and see Chapter 2).

Several new and exciting lines of inquiry have been made possible by recent advances in early clinical diagnosis, as well as the application of new technologies in brain imaging and developments in human genetics research.

Type
Chapter
Information
Genes, Brain and Development
The Neurocognition of Genetic Disorders
 , pp. 85 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

,American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Bailey, A., Palferman, S., Heavey, L., & Couteur, A. (1998). Autism: The phenotype in relatives. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28, 369–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ballaban-Gil, K., Rapin, I., Tuchman, R., & Shinnar, S. (1996). Longitudinal examination of the behavioral, language, and social changes in a population of adolescents and young adults with autistic disorder. Pediatric Neurology, 15, 217–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnby, G. & Monaco, A. P. (2003). Strategies for autism candidate gene analysis. Novartis Foundation Symposium, 251, 48–63.Google ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a ‘theory of mind’?Cognition, 21, 37–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrett, S., Prior, M., & Manjiviona, J. (2004). Children on the borderlands of autism. Autism, 8, 61–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
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, 127–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartak, L., Rutter, M., & Cox, A. (1977). A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorder. III. Discriminant function analysis. Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 7, 383–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Beitchman, J., Wilson, B., Brownlie, E., Walters, H., Inglis, A., & Lancee, W. (1996). Long-term consistency in speech/language profiles: II. behavioral, emotional, and social outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 35, 815–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berument, S. K., Rutter, M., Lord, C., Pickles, A., & Bailey, A. (1999). Autism screening questionnaire: Diagnostic validity. British Journal of Psychiatry, 175, 444–451. Published as the Social Communication Questionnaire by Western Psychological Services.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bishop, D. (1998). Development of the children's communication checklist (CCC): A method of assessing qualitative aspects of communicative impairment in children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 39, 879–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bishop, D. (2000). Pragmatic language impairment: A correlate of SLI, a distinct subgroup, or part of the autistic continuum? In Bishop, D. & Leonard, L. (Eds.), Speech and Language Impairments in Children: Causes, Characteristics, Intervention and Outcome. The Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. (2003). Autism and specific language impairment: Categorical distinction or continuum?Novartis Foundation Symposium, 251, 213–26.Google ScholarPubMed
Bishop, D. V., Maybery, M., Wong, D., Maley, A., Hill, W., & Hallmayer, J. (2004). Are phonological processing deficits part of the broad autism phenotype?American Journal of Medical Genetics.Part B, Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 128, 54–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, D. & Norbury, C. (2002). Exploring the borderlands of autistic disorder and specific language impairment: A study using standardized diagnostic instruments. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 37, 391–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, D. & Norbury, C. (2005). Executive functions in children with communication impairments, in relation to autistic symptomatology I: Generativity. Autism, 9, 7–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bishop, D. & Rosenbloom, L. (1987). Classification of childhood language disorders. In Yule, W. & Rutter, M. (Eds.), Language Development and Disorders. Clinics in Developmental Medicine (pp. 101–102). London: Mac Keith Press.Google Scholar
Bono, M., Daley, L., & Sigman, M. (2004). Relations among joint attention, amount of intervention and language gain in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 495–505.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Botting, N. & Conti-Ramsden, G. (1999). Pragmatic language impairment without autism: The children in question. Autism, 3, 371–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botting, N. & Conti-Ramsden, G. (2003). Autism, primary pragmatic difficulties and specific language impairment: Can we distinguish them using psycholinguistic markers?Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 45, 515–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bradford, Y., Haines, J., Hutcheson, H., et al. (2001). Incorporating language phenotypes strengthens evidence of linkage to autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 105, 539–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cantwell, D., Baker, L., Rutter, M., & Mawhood, L. (1989). Infantile autism and developmental receptive dysphasia: A comparative follow-up into middle childhood. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19, 19–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charman, T. & Baird, G. (2002). Practitioner review: Diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in 2- and 3-year-old children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 43, 289–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charman, T., Drew, A., Baird, C., & Baird, G. (2003). Measuring early language development in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Infant Form). Journal of Child Language, 30, 213–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Charman, T., Taylor, E., Drew, A., Cockerill, H., Brown, J., & Baird, G. (2005). Outcome at 7 years of children diagnosed with autism at age 2: Predictive validity of assessments conducted at 2 and 3 years of age and pattern of symptom change over time. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 500–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conti-Ramsden, G. & Botting, N. (1999). Classification of children with specific language impairment: Longitudinal considerations. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 1195–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conti-Ramsden, G., Botting, N., & Faragher, B. (2001). Psycholinguistic markers for SLI. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42, 741–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fosse, L., Hodge, S., Makris, N., et al. (2004). Language-association cortex asymmetry in autism and specific language impairment. Annals of Neurology; 56, 757–66.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunn, L. & Dunn, L., (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, 3rd edn. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar
Eaves, L. & Ho, H. (2004). The very early identification of autism: Outcome to age 4 1/2-5. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 367–78.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ellis Weismer, S. (2007). Typical talkers, late talkers, and children with specific language impairment: A language endowment spectrum? In Paul, R. (Ed.), Language Disorders and Development From a Developmental Perspective: Essays in Honor of Robin S. Chapman (pp. 83–101). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Ellis Weismer, S., Gernsbacher, M. A., Sauer, S., et al. (2005a). Characterizing early language profiles and language outcomes for children on the autism spectrum. Poster presented at the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders, Madison, WI.
Ellis Weismer, S., Plante, E., Jones, M., & Tomblin, B. (2005b). A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of verbal working memory in adolescents with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 405–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, S. E., & Mankoski, R. E. (2000). Chromosome 7q: Where autism meets language disorder?American Journal of Human Genetics, 67, 278–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, S. & Rutter, M. (1977). Infantile autism: A genetic study of 21 twin pairs. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 18, 297–321.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Folstein, S. E., Santangelo, S. L., Gilman, S. E., et al. (1999). Predictors of cognitive test patterns in autism families. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 40, 1117–28.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fombonne, E., Bolton, P., Prior, J., Jordan, H., & Rutter, M. (1997). A family study of autism: Cognitive patterns and levels in parents and siblings. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 38, 667–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frith, U. (1989). Autism: Explaining the Enigma. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Gagnon, L., Mottron, L., & Joanette, Y. (1997). Questioning the validity of the semantic-pragmatic syndrome diagnosis. Autism, 1, 37–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gathercole, S. & Baddeley, A. (1990). Phonological memory deficits in language disordered children: Is there a causal connection?Journal of Memory and Language, 29, 336–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gernsbacher, M., Geye, H., & Ellis Weismer, S. (2005). Profiles of early language development among children on the autism spectrum: A retrospective study. In Fletcher, P. & Miller, J. (Eds.), Language Disorders and Developmental Theory. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Gernsbacher, M., Sauer, E., Geye, H., Schweigert, E., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2008). Infant and toddler oral- and manual-motor skills predict later speech fluency in autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 43–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gernsbacher, M., Varner, K., & Faust, M. (1990). Investigating differences in general comprehension skill. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 16, 430–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Deutsch, C. K, et al. (2005). Brain asymmetries in autism and developmental language disorder: A nested whole-brain analysis. Brain, 128, 213–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Deutsch, C. K., et al. (2003a). Dissociations of cerebral cortex, subcortical and cerebral white matter volumes in autistic boys. Brain, 126, 1182–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Makris, N., et al. (2003b). Larger brain and white matter volumes in children with developmental language disorder. Developmental Science, 6, F11–F22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herbert, M. R., Ziegler, D. A., Makris, N., et al. (2004). Localization of white matter volume increase in autism and developmental language disorder. Annals of Neurology, 55, 530–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howlin, P. (2003). Outcome in high-functioning adults with autism and without early language delays: Implications for the differentiation between autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 3–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Just, M. A., Cherkassky, V. L., Keller, T. A., & Minshew, N. J. (2004). Cortical activation and synchronization during sentence comprehension in high-functioning autism: Evidence of underconnectivity. Brain, 127, 1811–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kjelgaard, M. & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2001). An investigation of language impairment in autism: Implications for genetic subgroups. Language and Cognitive Processes, 16, 287–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Couteur, A., Bailey, A., Goode, S., et al. (1996). A broader phenotype of autism: The clinical spectrum in twins. Journal of Child Psychology & Psychiatry & Allied Disciplines, 37, 785–801.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lord, C. (March, 2005). Early diagnosing of children with autism spectrum disorders. Invited talk to the Waisman Center MRDDRC Brown Bag Seminar, Madison, WI.
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E., et al. (2000). The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits association with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 205–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Couteur, 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, 659–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchman, V. A., Wulfeck, B., & Ellis Weismer, S. (1999). Morphological productivity in children with normal language and SLI: A study of the English past tense. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 42, 206–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mawhood, L., Howlin, P., & Rutter, M. (2000). Autism and developmental language disorder – a comparative follow-up in early adult life: I. Cognitive and language outcomes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 547–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mayes, S., Calhoun, S., & Crites, D. (2001). Does DSM-IV Asperger's disorder exist?Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 263–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Michelotti, J., Charman, T., Slonims, V., & Baird, G. (2002). Follow-up of children with language delay and features of autism from preschool years to middle childhood. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 44, 812–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, J. & Chapman, R. (2000). SALT: Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts [Computer software]. Language Analysis Laboratory. University of Wisconsin-Madison: Waisman Center.Google Scholar
Morgan, B., Maybery, M., & Durkin, K. (2003). Weak central coherence, poor joint attention, and low verbal ability: Independent deficits in early autism. Developmental Psychology, 39, 646–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mundy, P., Sigman, M., & Kasari, C. (1990). A longitudinal study of joint attention and language development in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 22, 115–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norbury, C. (2005). Barking up the wrong tree: Lexical ambiguity resolution in children with language impairments and autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 90, 142–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Piven, J., Palmer, P., Landa, R., Santangelo, S., Jacobi, D., & Childress, D. (1997). Personality and language characteristics in parents from multiple-incidence autism families. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 74, 398–411.3.0.CO;2-D>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rapin, I. & Allen, D. (1983). Developmental language disorders: Nosologic considerations. In Kirk, U. (Ed.),Neuropsychology of Language, Reading, and Spelling (pp. 158–184). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Rapin, I. & Dunn, M. (2003). Update on the language disorders of individuals on the autistic spectrum. Brain Development, 25, 166–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rice, M. L., Sell, M. A., & Hadley, P. A. (1991). Social interactions of speech and language impaired children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 34, 1299–1307.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. (1970). Autistic children: Infancy to adulthood. Seminars in Psychiatry, 2, 435–50.Google Scholar
Semel, E. M., Wiig, E. H., & Secord, W. (1987). Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals –Revised. San Antonio, Texas: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Shao, Y., Raiford, K. L., Wolpert, C. M., et al, (2002). Phenotypic homogeneity provides increased support for linkage on chromosome 2 in autistic disorder. American Journal of Human Genetics, 70, 1058–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shields, J., Varley, R., Broks, P., & Simpson, A. (1996). Social cognition in developmental language disorders and high-level autism. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 38, 487–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sigman, M. & Ruskin, E. (1999). Change and continuity in the social competence of children with Autism, Down syndrome, and developmental delays. Monograph of the Society for Research in Child Development. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Stone, W. & Yoder, P. (2001). Predicting spoken language level in children with autism spectrum disorders. Autism, 5, 341–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Szatmari, P., MacLean, J. E., Jones, M. B., et al. (2000). The familial aggregation of the lesser variant in biological and nonbiological relatives of PDD probands: A family history study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 579–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tager-Flusberg, H. & Joseph, R. (2003). Identifying neurocognitive phenotypes in autism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 358, 303–14.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomblin, J. B., Hafeman, L. L., & O' Brien, M. (2003). Autism and autistic behaviors in siblings of children with language impairment. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 38, 235–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Venter, A., Lord, C., & Schopler, E. (1992). A follow-up study of high functioning autistic children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 33, 489–507.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitehurst, G. & Fischel, J. (1994). Practitioner review: Early developmental language delay: what, if anything, should the clinician do about it?Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 35, 613–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,World Health Organization. (1993). International Classification of Diseases, 10th rev. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×