Language representation and language use in children with optimal outcomes from ASD.

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has typically been considered a lifelong condition; however, studies have identified a subset of children (estimates suggest 3%-25%) who improve to such an extent that they no longer meet diagnostic criteria for ASD

‘Form is easy, meaning is hard’ revisited: (re) characterizing the strengths and weaknesses of language in children with autism spectrum disorder

“…However, we will only be able to fully understand their relative strengths and weaknesses with language when more comprehensive assessments are conducted. 39,98 In sum, the disconnects between language form (e.g., grammar) and language meaning (both context-dependent and context-independent) that we have reviewed in this paper, both across studies and within a single sample, are intriguing because their directionality suggests that at least some components of grammatical form can develop more quickly than-and possibly somewhat independently of-some components of lexical meaning. As such, they expand Naigles' 1 original 'form is easy, meaning is hard' thesis to the population of language learners who are children with ASD.…”

“…In other words, we have learned that standardized tests are only the first step in assessing the language of children with ASD; detailed psycholinguistic tasks provide a much clearer picture of their strengths and challenges. However, we will only be able to fully understand their relative strengths and weaknesses with language when more comprehensive assessments are conducted …”

“…Similarly, high‐functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome who show milder symptoms compared to classic autism use fewer referential expressions and form sentences that are not linked in a temporal order while narrating a story . Even optimal outcome children (those who had been previously diagnosed with an ASD, but are currently completely integrated in typical classrooms after receiving intensive behavioral therapy) display pragmatic deficits when narrating a story, including difficulties with naming story characters, communicating fewer descriptions that are central to the narrative, producing ambiguous pronominal referents, and using idiosyncratic language …”

“…37 Even optimal outcome children (those who had been previously diagnosed with an ASD, but are currently completely integrated in typical classrooms after receiving intensive behavioral therapy) display pragmatic deficits when narrating a story, including difficulties with naming story characters, communicating fewer descriptions that are central to the narrative, producing ambiguous pronominal referents, and using idiosyncratic language. 38,39 In sum, pragmatics involves discerning meaning in a specific context. A successful conversation with a social partner is not possible if one is not able to decode the intended meanings of words and utterances or, conversely, to produce utterances that are meaningful from a listener's perspective.…”

Lexical Semantic Knowledge of Children with ASD—a Review Study

“…We excluded studies reporting on children with "optimal outcomes," which are described as children who improve at such a rate that at some point in their life they no longer qualify for an autism diagnosis. As Suh and colleagues (Suh et al, 2017) pointed out, the factors involved in determining which individuals will experience optical outcome are not fully known yet and therefore these studies were excluded. Studies that included children described as having "autistic traits," but no formal diagnosis, were also excluded because there was no way of determining if the participants would be eligible for an autism diagnosis.…”