Memory in language-impaired children with and without autism

Abstract

BackgroundA subgroup of young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have significant language impairments (phonology, grammar, vocabulary), although such impairments are not considered to be core symptoms of and are not unique to ASD. Children with specific language impairment (SLI) display similar impairments in language. Given evidence for phenotypic and possibly etiologic overlap between SLI and ASD, it has been suggested that language-impaired children with ASD (ASD + language impairment, ALI) may be characterized as having both ASD and SLI. However, the extent to which the language phenotypes in SLI and ALI can be viewed as similar or different depends in part upon the age of the individuals studied. The purpose of the current study is to examine differences in memory abilities, specifically those that are key “markers” of heritable SLI, among young school-age children with SLI, ALI, and ALN (ASD + language normal).MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, three groups of children between ages 5 and 8 years participated: SLI (n = 18), ALI (n = 22), and ALN (n = 20). A battery of cognitive, language, and ASD assessments was administered as well as a nonword repetition (NWR) test and measures of verbal memory, visual memory, and processing speed.ResultsNWR difficulties were more severe in SLI than in ALI, with the largest effect sizes in response to nonwords with the shortest syllable lengths. Among children with ASD, NWR difficulties were not associated with the presence of impairments in multiple ASD domains, as reported previously. Verbal memory difficulties were present in both SLI and ALI groups relative to children with ALN. Performance on measures related to verbal but not visual memory or processing speed were significantly associated with the relative degree of language impairment in children with ASD, supporting the role of verbal memory difficulties in language impairments among early school-age children with ASD.ConclusionsThe primary difference between children with SLI and ALI was in NWR performance, particularly in repeating two- and three-syllable nonwords, suggesting that shared difficulties in early language learning found in previous studies do not necessarily reflect the same underlying mechanisms.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s11689-015-9111-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Magnetoencephalography shows atypical sensitivity to linguistic sound sequences in autism spectrum disorder

“…These findings are consistent with proposals related to impaired phonological memory in ASD based on non-word repetition effects (e.g. [15]). While the data indicate that phonological processing is atypical, they do not license conclusions about behavioral consequences of these differences.…”

“…Disordered speech perception is not a typical symptom of ASD [13, p. 125], although impairments in repeating novel words has been linked with deficits in phonological memory which may have perceptual consequences (e.g. [14, 15]). However, Whitehouse & Bishop [16], using Event-Related Potentials (ERP) and an oddball paradigm, observe that altered neural responses to speech sounds reflect disrupted top-down modulation and not bottom-up sensory effects.…”

The effect of language, spatial factors, masker type and memory span on speech‐in‐noise thresholds in sequential bilingual children

“…Participants' WM scores (M = 7.1, SD = 1.68, range = 4-11) were converted from raw to scaled scores with a mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3 (Hill, van Santen, Gorman, Langhorst & Fombonne, 2015). According to self-reported questionnaire data, the average age at which participants' second language was acquired was 7.1 years (SD = 2.85, range = 1.5-12).…”

The role of nonverbal working memory in morphosyntactic processing by children with specific language impairment and autism spectrum disorders

“…Contrary to the profiles typically seen in children with SLI, several studies have reported that individuals with ASD had visuospatial WM deficits but no verbal WM deficits [47–49]. Conversely, other studies have found deficits in verbal WM in children with ASD [7, 14] or deficits in both spatial and verbal WM [50, 51]. Williams and colleagues [51] found that the memory profile in children with ASD was characterized by deficits in complex visual and verbal memory as well as spatial WM.…”