Brief Report: Predicting Social Skills from Semantic, Syntactic, and Pragmatic Language Among Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Levinson, Sarah; Eisenhower, Abbey; Bush, Hillary H.; Carter, Alice S.; Blacher, Jan

doi:10.1007/s10803-020-04445-z

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Reflecting concerns of children in this study, the literature indicates specific difficulties with language processing speed (Paul et al, 2009) and pragmatic abilities (Loukusa & Moilanen, 2009) which impact real-time turn-taking (Nichols et al, 2009), topic generation/maintenance (Dean et al, 2013; Paul et al, 2009) and conversational behaviours (Adams et al, 2002). Linguistic difficulties were associated with poorer social interactions for the children in this study, mirroring findings from parent and teacher reports (Levinson et al, 2020). The children reported increased language and communication difficulties and subsequent negative emotional sequelae and social exhaustion within group settings.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Strengths lie in vocabulary (Kelley et al, 2006) and expressive grammar (Eigsti et al, 2007), while subtle difficulties are identified in the above sentence-level tasks and semantics and pragmatic language. Better language and pragmatic skills are associated with improved social communication across mixed-ability autistic children (Levinson et al, 2020). There is also some indication that subtle difficulties will contribute to poorer functionality and social skills for autistic individuals without intellectual disability.…”

Section: Subtle Language and Communication Difficulties And Potential Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In their own words: The impact of subtle language and communication difficulties as described by autistic girls and boys without intellectual disability

Sturrock

Chilton

Foy

et al. 2021

Autism

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Subtle language and communication difficulties are persistent and pervasive for autistic individuals without intellectual disability. They are thought to impact negatively on functionality, social interrelations and emotional well-being, although this relationship is under-explored in the literature. The personal accounts of autistic children could add valuable insight into how they experience subtle language and communication difficulties and what impact this has on their daily lives. In this study, 12 autistic children (9–14 years), without intellectual disability, were interviewed on this topic, using specially developed methods/materials to facilitate rich self-reporting. Results showed the children could provide detailed insight into their difficulties and the impact of these on key aspects of functionality (education and daily living) and social interrelations (including friendship building). They also demonstrated a potentially bi-directional relationship between subtle language and communication difficulties and negative emotions; with negative emotions limiting communicative competence and subtle linguistic difficulties leading to negative emotional responses. This study indicates the need for further investigation into the subtle difficulties experienced by autistic children without intellectual disability and its likely impact. Implications for clinical practice include the need for better identification of subtle language and communication difficulties and provision of appropriate therapeutic services which may help to ameliorate negative functional, social and emotional sequelae. Lay abstract Subtle language and communication difficulties are experienced by many autistic individuals even when they do not have additional learning disabilities. These difficulties may affect a person’s day-to-day living, social relationships and emotional well-being. However, currently, there is not much research into this topic. To date, no one has asked autistic children about their own language and communication difficulties or how they feel it affects them. Asking the children could provide valuable new insights. In this study, 12 autistic children (9–14 years), without learning disability, were interviewed on this topic. We developed interview questions, resources and interview procedures with the support of the autistic community. We also worked with an autistic researcher to analyse our results. We aimed to get the most genuine report of the autistic child’s experiences. Our results showed that the children could give detailed insight into their language and communication difficulties if they were given the right support. They told us about how subtle language and communication difficulties affected their ability to learn, take part in certain activities and seek help. They talked about how subtle difficulties affect their ability to talk to new people, talk in groups and ultimately make friends. They also told us about the emotional upset that these subtle difficulties could have. They suggest that communication breakdown leads to negative feelings, but also that negative feelings can lead to more difficulties explaining themselves. The results of this study suggest that we should do more research on the effects of subtle language and communication difficulties. There are also implications for clinical practice. We should identify subtle language and communication difficulties through thorough assessment because these are often missed. We should also develop therapy and strategies that are aimed at individuals with subtle language and communication difficulties because this could help prevent additional difficulties with learning, help-seeking, friendship-making and emotional well-being.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Subtle Language and Communication Difficulties And Potential Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

In their own words: The impact of subtle language and communication difficulties as described by autistic girls and boys without intellectual disability

Sturrock

Chilton

Foy

et al. 2021

Autism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Ellis Weismer et al (2018) showed that clinical evaluation of language fundamentals‐4 (CELF‐4; Semel et al, 2004) scores predicted the outcomes of nonverbal executive functioning tasks in autistic children. As well, Levinson et al (2020) found that semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic language could predict parent‐ and teacher‐reported social skills in autistic children. Autistic individuals also demonstrate a large variability in production of paralinguistic features, such as prosody (Globerson et al, 2015; Grossman et al, 2010); these differences are often only revealed using acoustic analysis (Loveall et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Combining voice and language features improves automated autism detection

et al. 2022

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Variability in expressive and receptive language, difficulty with pragmatic language, and prosodic difficulties are all features of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Quantifying language and voice characteristics is an important step for measuring outcomes for autistic people, yet clinical measurement is cumbersome and costly. Using natural language processing (NLP) methods and a harmonic model of speech, we analyzed language transcripts and audio recordings to automatically classify individuals as ASD or non‐ASD. One‐hundred fifty‐eight participants (88 ASD, 70 non‐ASD) ages 7 to 17 were evaluated with the autism diagnostic observation schedule (ADOS‐2), module 3. The ADOS‐2 was transcribed following modified SALT guidelines. Seven automated language measures (ALMs) and 10 automated voice measures (AVMs) for each participant were generated from the transcripts and audio of one ADOS‐2 task. The measures were analyzed using support vector machine (SVM; a binary classifier) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC). The AVM model resulted in an ROC area under the curve (AUC) of 0.7800, the ALM model an AUC of 0.8748, and the combined model a significantly improved AUC of 0.9205. The ALM model better detected ASD participants who were younger and had lower language skills and shorter activity time. ASD participants detected by the AVM model had better language profiles than those detected by the language model. In combination, automated measurement of language and voice characteristics successfully differentiated children with and without autism. This methodology could help design robust outcome measures for future research. Lay Summary People with autism often struggle with communication differences which traditional clinical measures and language tests cannot fully capture. Using language transcripts and audio recordings from 158 children ages 7 to 17, we showed that automated, objective language and voice measurements successfully predict the child's diagnosis. This methodology could help design improved outcome measures for research.

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“…Thematic analysis found that difficulties with discourse, listening and word-finding were strongly associated with breakdown of conversations. These may contribute to results from recent empirical research, which suggests language difficulties will predict poorer social performance in autistic individuals (Levinson et al, 2020). Additionally, the associated effort incurred in managing these difficulties often resulted in avoidance or limitations to social participation.…”

Section: Subtle Profile and Significant Impactmentioning

confidence: 81%

A Subtle Profile With a Significant Impact: Language and Communication Difficulties for Autistic Females Without Intellectual Disability

2021

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The presentation of autism in females is poorly understood, which is thought to contribute to missed or later- age diagnosis, especially for those without intellectual disability. Dedicated research into social and behavioral differences has indicated a specific female phenotype of autism. However, less has been done to explore language and communication profiles, despite known sex/gender differences in typically developing populations. This article provides a synthesis of recent work from this small but emerging field. It focuses on a series of four preliminary and explorative studies conducted by the authors and embeds this within the wider literature. Findings suggest a specific profile of language and communication strengths and weaknesses for autistic females without intellectual disability (compared to autistic males and typically developing females). Furthermore, despite the relatively subtle presentation of difficulties (compared to autistic males), the impact on functionality, social inter-relations and emotional well-being, appears to be equitable and significant. The discussion highlights the need for further empirical research and proposes areas for investigation. Implications for clinical practice include the need for better recognition, testing and provision of interventions dedicated to the language and communication difficulties for autistic females. This has relevance for diagnostic, mental health and speech and language therapy services.

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Brief Report: Predicting Social Skills from Semantic, Syntactic, and Pragmatic Language Among Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Cited by 32 publications

References 78 publications

In their own words: The impact of subtle language and communication difficulties as described by autistic girls and boys without intellectual disability

In their own words: The impact of subtle language and communication difficulties as described by autistic girls and boys without intellectual disability

Combining voice and language features improves automated autism detection

A Subtle Profile With a Significant Impact: Language and Communication Difficulties for Autistic Females Without Intellectual Disability

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