Pragmatics and social motivation in autism

Kissine, Mikhaïl

doi:10.1017/s0140525x18002224

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 138 publications

(157 reference statements)

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“…Let me also stress that by no means do difficulties in adopting one's (neurotypical) interlocutor's perspective entail lack of willingness to interact (van Tiel & Kissine 2018, Kissine 2019). At the same time, that an autistic individual is actively taking part in a conversation should not be taken as evidence for perspective taking and joint attention, contrary to what Goldberg and Abbot-Smith (2021) seem to infer from the semistructured conversations analyzed in Kissine et al 2019. Detailed conversation analysis makes it clear that autistic individuals engage their conversational partners.…”

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confidence: 83%

“…It is highly desirable to enrich such methods with finer-grained, qualitative analyses of the way language is being acquired. Under this perspective, it makes perfect sense to investigate the hypothesis that in some autistic children a learning path more centered on language-internal structural properties than on intersubjective communication may lead to the acquisition of language from noninteractional sources (as well as to an intense interest in foreign languages or in writing systems; Vulchanova et al 2012, Ostrolenk et al 2017, Kissine et al 2019.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Facing the complexity of language in autism (Response to commentators)

Kissine¹

2021

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Introduction. The diversity and the scope of the responses to my target article (Kissine 2021) demonstrate the great potential linguistic research has for the field of autism. These responses also reveal, albeit sometimes implicitly, that a chief challenge in researching language in autism lies in the complexity and the subtlety of the data. In organizing my own response under this angle, I hope to react in a constructive way to most of the criticisms and suggestions voiced in these commentaries. In the next section, I return to the relationship between socio-communicative skills and language trajectories in autism; in particular, I argue that it is crucial to distinguish between predictors of language delays and those of language outcomes. Next, I discuss the complexity of pragmatics in autism, warning against reductionist attempts to subsume all data on pragmatics in autism under a single processing model. In the third section, I turn to the more general issue of the variability of individual profiles on the autism spectrum and ask how it can be integrated in a meaningful way within research on language in autism. I conclude this brief response to commentators by issuing a plea to think of the diversity of linguistic theories and schools as an opportunity for better understanding language in autism. Joint attention and language trajectories.There is little doubt that sociocommunicative skills-including but not limited to joint attention-increase the opportunity for linguistic experiences and enhance the child's access to language. When such skills are significantly below the typical range, as is the case for many young autistic children, language acquisition is very likely to be delayed. For instance, as pointed out by Arunachalam, Artis, and Luyster (2021) in their response, a robust association between response to joint attention and language levels in autistic children emerges from the meta-analysis by Bottema-Beutel (2016). 1 However, the close association between atypically low joint attention and the likelihood for an autistic child to be non-or minimally verbal (see e.g. the studies on minimally verbal autistic children by Wodka et al. 2013or Yoder et al. 2015 does not entail that joint attention also predicts how language levels will evolve.Not carefully distinguishing between predictors of language delays and those of language outcomes may lead to significant mischaracterizations of language trajectories in autism. Take, as a first example, the longitudinal study by Anderson et al. (2007), which, according to the response by Goldberg and Abbot-Smith (2021:e172), shows that 'joint attention is predictive of autistic language development' (emphasis theirs). Anderson et al. followed three groups from the ages of two to nine years: autistic children, children with a diagnosis of pervasive developmental disorders not otherwise specified, and children with a nonspectrum developmental condition. At the study onset and independent of the diagnostic group, joint-attention scores correlated (along

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confidence: 83%

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confidence: 99%

Facing the complexity of language in autism (Response to commentators)

Kissine¹

2021

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“…A recent study, however, indicates that noninteractive language acquisition from television does occur in some autistic children. In Kissine et al 2019 we thoroughly documented five cases of Tunisian autistic boys ranging from five to ten years old who spontaneously and productively used the standard, noncolloquial variety of Arabic. Such a linguistic profile is very intriguing because Tunisia, like most Arabic-speaking communities, is inherently diglossic: a vernacular, colloquial variety is used in everyday interaction, while the significantly distinct Standard Arabic is reserved for very formal, mostly written settings.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, before (or unless) protracted and explicit instruction takes place at school, children fail to master Standard Arabic, whether at the level of comprehension, production, phonology, or morphosyntax (Amayreh 2003, Saiegh-Haddad et al 2011, Khamis-Dakwar et al 2012, Leikin et al 2014). Yet the autistic children in Kissine et al 2019 displayed a striking proficiency in Standard Arabic: they productively and correctly used pho nemes, case marking, complex negation forms, and verbal moods that characterize Standard Arabic but are nonexistent in the Tunisian colloquial variety. As Standard Arabic is never used in everyday communication, learning this variety had no communicative purpose for these children.…”

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Autism, constructionism, and nativism

Kissine¹

2021

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The goal of this article is to provide a balanced assessment of the significance autism has for the scientific study of language. While linguistic profiles in autism vary greatly, spanning from a total absence of functional language to verbal levels within the typical range, the entire autism spectrum is robustly characterized by lifelong disabilities in intersubjective communication and persistent difficulties in adopting the perspective of other people. In that sense, autism constitutes a unique profile in which linguistic competence is dissociated from communication skills. Somewhat paradoxically, autism is often mentioned to underscore the importance of mind reading for language use and of intersubjective communication for the emergence of language. Yet experimental studies on pragmatics in autism indicate that many pragmatic processes unfold without adopting one's conversational partner's perspective. Moreover, the patterns of language acquisition and learning in autism represent a strong challenge to the central role constructionist theories assign to socio-communicative skills. Data on autism thus force a reconsideration of the a priori conceptual boundaries on language learnability that shape the foundational debates between constructionist and nativist linguistic theories.

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Prevention of Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI) in Adult ICU Patients

Haas¹

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This article critically examines autism and autistic stimming through the lenses of neurotypicals and autistics, evaluates confines currently imposed upon autistics by neurotypical society, and synthesizes what autistic leaders have expressed about their experiences striving for inclusion (Gernsbacher, 2017; Milton, 2012). Autistic-led studies are now at the forefront of the neurodiversity movement and are growing in fervor. The following themes were identified: (a) prevalence of autism, (b) the interpretation and measurement of empathy, (c) discovery of genetic factors transformed autistics’ identity, (d) publication of non-genetic factors such as vaccines undermined the legitimacy of the autism language, (e) the problem with the lack of social language legitimacy, (f) autistic empathy, (g) past and current interventions, (h) destructive interventions thwart connection and cause mental health decline, (i) neurotypical perceptions of the autistic; (j) the responsibilities required in dual communication; and (h) autistic stimming has form, structure, and predictability. The language of stimming has not yet been defined or interpreted in a way the neurotypical community can comprehend and it is this lack of understanding neurotypicals have of the autistic that causes a disconnect between the two groups (DeThorne, 2020; Kapp et al, 2019a; Milton, 2012). Autistic empathy is physically manifested by the language of stimming so hopefully, neurotypicals will begin to feel empowered to learn it. This re-educating neurotypicals about autistic social language would diversify the neurotypical’s understanding of social behavior. For, it is only when neurotypicals give empathy in the same format they require of autistics, that we be fully included.

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Pragmatics and social motivation in autism

Cited by 4 publications

References 138 publications

Facing the complexity of language in autism (Response to commentators)

Facing the complexity of language in autism (Response to commentators)

Autism, constructionism, and nativism

Prevention of Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI) in Adult ICU Patients

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