The Development of Contingent Discourse Ability in Autistic Children

Abstract

This study investigated communicative competence in autistic children. Six autistic boys were matched to six children with Down syndrome on age and language level. For each child four samples of spontaneous speech over the course of 1 year were analysed. Child utterances were coded for adjacency, contingency and various categories of contingent discourse that either did or did not add new information. Autistic children wer found to be more non-contingent, and to show no developmental change in their contingent discourse, especially in categories of contingent discourse that added new information.

The relationship of theory of mind and executive functions to symptom type and severity in children with autism

“…It has long been argued that theory of mind impairments can explain the pragmatic communication deficits that are characteristic of children and adults with autism (BaronCohen, 1988;Happé, 1994;Tager-Flusberg & Anderson, 1991). However, prior studies directly examining the relationship between theory of mind and communication symptoms have failed to establish a relationship between these factors that was independent of language level (Capps et al, 1998;Tager-Flusberg & Sullivan, 1995).…”

“…Both theory of mind and planning abilities, as measured by the Tower task, were inversely related to ADOS communication symptoms in school-age children with autism, and these relationships were established independently of the substantial variation in communication symptoms explained by differences in language development. In contrast, neither theory of mind ability nor any of our executive functions measures accounted for statistically significant variation in the severity of reciprocal social interaction or repetitive behaviors symptoms once language level was controlled.It has long been argued that theory of mind impairments can explain the pragmatic communication deficits that are characteristic of children and adults with autism (BaronCohen, 1988;Happé, 1994;Tager-Flusberg & Anderson, 1991). However, prior studies directly examining the relationship between theory of mind and communication symptoms have failed to establish a relationship between these factors that was independent of language level (Capps et al, 1998;Tager-Flusberg & Sullivan, 1995).…”

Strategies for Conducting Research on Language in Autism

“…Initially, clinical descriptions were published (e.g., Baltaxe, 1977) followed by more systematic empirical investigations that included control groups matched on IQ, mental age, or, more often, other aspects of language ability such as vocabulary or syntax (e.g., Capps, Kehres, & Sigman, 1998;Loveland, Landry, Hughes, Hall, & McEvoy, 1988;Norbury & Bishop, 2002;Surian, Baron-Cohen, & Van der Lely, 1996). In other studies, unique patterns of language organization among children with autism were explored in relation to dissociations between pragmatic and syntactic or lexical components of language functioning in contrast to more synchronous patterns found among control groups (e.g., Tager-Flusberg & Anderson, 1991;Tager-Flusberg, 1994). The consistent picture that emerged from these studies was that pragmatic aspects of language were specifically and universally impaired in children with autism relative to other children and to other aspects of language (Lord & Paul, 1997;Tager-Flusberg, 2000).…”

Brief Report: The Relationship between Discourse Deficits and Autism Symptomatology

“…The transcripts were coded for use of topic noncontingent discourse using a coding scheme adapted from Tager-Flusberg and Anderson (1991). Each intelligible child utterance that immediately followed a parent utterance was coded as noncontingent, contingent, or imitation.…”