Language and communication in children with autism: Do research and clinical practice converge in Denmark?

Norbury

Nærland

et al. 2016

Autism

186

137

We present a meta-analysis of studies that compare figurative language comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder and in typically developing controls who were matched based on chronological age or/and language ability. A total of 41 studies and 45 independent effect sizes were included based on predetermined inclusion criteria. Group matching strategy, age, types of figurative language, and cross-linguistic differences were examined as predictors that might explain heterogeneity in effect sizes. Overall, individuals with autism spectrum disorder showed poorer comprehension of figurative language than their typically developing peers (Hedges’ g = –0.57). A meta-regression analysis showed that group matching strategy and types of figurative language were significantly related to differences in effect sizes, whereas chronological age and cross-linguistic differences were not. Differences between the autism spectrum disorder and typically developing groups were small and nonsignificant when the groups were matched based on the language ability. Metaphors were more difficult to comprehend for individuals with autism spectrum disorder compared with typically developing controls than were irony and sarcasm. Our findings highlight the critical role of core language skills in figurative language comprehension. Interventions and educational programmes designed to improve social communication skills in individuals with autism spectrum disorder may beneficially target core language skills in addition to social skills.

Section: Figurative Language Comprehension In Individuals With Asdsupporting

confidence: 73%

Figurative language comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A meta-analytic review

Norbury

Nærland

et al. 2016

Autism

186

137

“…Syntactic structure is the least explored property and was not normally controlled for in the studies. Given that individuals with ASD frequently show impairments in syntax (Brynskov, Krøjgaard, & Eigsti, 2016), and given the evidence that metaphors in different syntactic structures are comprehended differently (Cardillo et al, 2012;Chen et al, 2008), the syntactic structure of the metaphoric items may have been important to take into account in research with individuals with ASD. However, as most studies do not report on syntactic structure (or offer inconsistent examples), we cannot conclude that the stimuli did consistently display the same structure throughout the task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on metaphor comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: Do task properties matter?

Applied Psycholinguistics

Bambini

Naess

2019

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience difficulty in comprehending metaphors compared to individuals with typical development (TD). However, there is a large variation in the results across studies, possibly related to the properties of the metaphor tasks. This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis (a) explored the properties of the metaphor tasks used in ASD research, and (b) investigated the group difference between individuals with ASD and TD on metaphor comprehension, as well as the relationship between the task properties and any between-study variation. A systematic search was undertaken in seven relevant databases. Fourteen studies fulfilled our predetermined inclusion criteria. Across tasks, we detected four types of response format and a great variety of metaphors in terms of familiarity, syntactic structure, and linguistic context. Individuals with TD outperformed individuals with ASD on metaphor comprehension (Hedges’ g = −0.63). Verbal explanation response format was utilized in the study showing the largest effect size in the group comparison. However, due to the sparse experimental manipulations, the role of task properties could not be established. Future studies should consider and report task properties to determine their role in metaphor comprehension, and to inform experimental paradigms as well as educational assessment.

“…In the latter group, impaired core language has been proposed as an underlying variable of metaphor comprehension difficulties (Bühler et al, 2018 ). This could also be true in ASD as difficulties in different aspects of core language are common among these individuals (Brynskov et al, 2016 ; Tager-Flusberg & Joseph, 2003 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphor Comprehension in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Core Language Skills Matter

Braeken

Brynskov

et al. 2021

J Autism Dev Disord

Self Cite

Poor metaphor comprehension was considered a hallmark of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but recent research has questioned the extent and the sources of these difficulties. In this cross-sectional study, we compared metaphor comprehension in individuals with ASD (N = 29) and individuals with typical development (TD; N = 31), and investigated the relationship between core language and metaphor comprehension. Individuals with ASD showed more difficulty but also a more variable performance in both metaphor and literal items of the task used than individuals with TD did. This indicates that core language ability accounts for metaphor comprehension and should be considered in future research and interventions aiming to improve metaphor comprehension in individuals with ASD.