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Abstract

this technique can be used to study syntactic abnormalities in subjects with autism and related disorders. METHOD SubjectsThe study was conducted at the University of Michigan Developmental Disorders Clinic. Subjects with AS consisted of those who met the criteria for that disorder (ICD-10; World Health Organization [WHO], 1993). These were consecutive referrals with pervasive developmental disorders who showed evidence of autistic social dysfunction and idiosyncratic interests with a full-scale IQ of 70 or above (n = 15; 12 male; 3 female; M age:16.2 years; M full-scale IQ: 96) without evidence of language delay (phrase speech by 3 years of age). Those with a history of pragmatic deficits were not excluded. Also, none of the subjects met the criteria for autism at the time of evaluation or in the past. Subjects meeting the ICD-10 criteria were later rediagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria (APA, 1994).Controls with high-functioning autism (HFA) were referred over the same index period. They met both the DSM-III-R (APA, 1987) and ICD-10 (WHO, 1993) criteria for autism and had a full-scale IQ over 70 (n = 13; 12 male; 1 female; M age:15.5 years; M full-scale IQ: 81.1). The groups differed significantly in their verbal IQ ( p = .026) and full-scale IQ ( p = .022) but not in their age, sex, and performance IQs. Both the groups had English as their native language and were born in the U.S. AssessmentSpeech samples (7-20 minutes) were collected during structured taped interviews and later transcribed. The interview consisted of a picture-description task, followed by a semistructured session consisting of

Who's Missing the Point? A Commentary on Claims that Autistic Persons Have a Specific Deficit in Figurative Language Comprehension

“…Other studies cited by the contributions as evidence that autistic persons have a specific deficit in figurative language rely precariously on Verbal or Performance IQ for their studies’ control (e.g., Eales 1993; Ghaziuddin et al 2000; Gold & Faust, 2010; Gold, Faust, & Goldstein, 2010; Just, Cherkassky, Keller, & Minshew, 2004; Jolliffe & Baron-Cohen, 1999a; 1999b; Kana, Keller, Cherkassky, Minshew, & Just, 2006; Kleinhans, Müller, Cohen, & Courchesne, 2008; Losh & Capps, 2003; Paul & Cohen, 1985; Pijnacker, Geurts, van Lambalgen, Buitelaar, & Hagoort, 2010; Tesink, Buitelaar, Petersson, van der Gaag, Kan, Tendolkar, & Hagoort, 2009; Wang, Lee, Sigman, & Dapretto, 2006; 2007). …”