Bifurcation Theory Approach to Neuro-Developmental Language Impairment in Autistic Children

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is defined by a spectrum of deficits in social interactions and limited or stereotyped patterns of behaviours. Consequently, language as the result and the tool of communication is impaired in individuals affected by ASD. Thus, a better knowledge of language impairment leads to a better solution of the communicating problems. “Dynamical systems theory” could help us understand the development of language and the related impairments. Based on this theory, language development can be considered as a dynamical system with the trajectory of variation. In the present study, we hypothesised that a kind of bifurcation happens in language development trajectory of autistic children when they reach a higher level of language like pragmatics.

A Dynamical Systems Approach to Pragmatics Language Impairment in Autistic Children: Trapped Trajectory in a Bottleneck

“…Language develops from lower-level processing, such as the indication of informative responses, interacting intentions, and semantic/lexicon processing, to higher-level processing i.e., syntactic analysis and pragmatics integration [2]. Based on literature, Dynamical Systems Theory (DST) could help us explain the developmental process of language and the related impairments [6]. In other words, the temporal development of language can be studied by nonlinear dynamic models.…”

“…DST could describe the self-organizing processes that cause developmental changes and moment-to-moment variability in children's language performance [4]. Therefore, Language development could be studied as a dynamical system with the trajectory of variation [6,9]. It starts from recognition of pre-linguistic informative actions.…”