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Purpose: Autistic children with limited spoken language ability (LSLA) often do not respond to traditional interventions, reducing their social inclusion. It is essential to identify effective interventions, and sensitive measures to track their intervention response. Methods: Using data from an RCT comparing music-mediated and play-based interventions, we investigated the impact of spoken language ability on outcomes, and measured response to intervention through natural language sample measures. Results: Children with lower verbal IQ, relative to higher verbal IQ, made some greater gains over the course of music-mediated intervention. Natural language samples were helpful in characterizing communication and tracking change. Conclusion: Music-mediated interventions hold promise as effective interventions for autistic children with LSLA. Natural language samples are robust in characterizing this subgroup.

The study investigated how narratives are influenced by both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and bilingualism. We analyzed the short narratives of school-age Quebec French-speaking children: bilinguals with and without ASD, and monolinguals with and without ASD. Children were given sets of three picture cards depicting a scenario, and were asked to sequence the cards and tell a story. We measured: (1) language production (number of utterances, total number of words), (2) macrostructure (appropriate sequencing of events, number of events mentioned, coherence), (3) microstructure (character introductions, maintenance of referential terms, use of grammatical gender, use of connectives), and (4) evaluative devices (both linguistic and non-linguistic), and mental state terms. With respect to language production, bilinguals produced more utterances than monolinguals, despite having marginally lower receptive vocabulary scores in French. With respect to macrostructure, typically-developing children provided more coherent narratives. No significant differences were found on microstructure or evaluative devices, but evaluative devices were infrequent for all groups. There were no decrements in the narratives of bilingual children relative to monolingual children, both with and without ASD; in fact we found an increased number of utterances in the narratives of bilinguals. The current findings suggest that bilingualism does not negatively affect narrative skills in children with ASD.

This contribution attempts to import the study of autism into the biolinguistics program by reviewing the current state of knowledge on its neurobiology, physiology and verbal phenotypes from a comparative vantage point. A closer look at alternative approaches to the primacy of social cognition impairments in autism spectrum disorders suggests fundamental differences in every aspect of language comprehension and production, suggesting productive directions of research in auditory and visual speech processing as well as executive control. Strong emphasis is put on the great heterogeneity of autism phenotypes, raising important caveats towards an all-or-nothing classification of autism. The study of autism brings interesting clues about the nature and evolution of language, in particular its ontological connections with musical and visual perception as well as executive functions and generativity. Success in this endeavor hinges upon expanding beyond the received wisdom of autism as a purely social disorder and favoring a “cognitive style” approach increasingly called for both inside and outside the autistic community.

Purpose: Processing real-world sounds requires acoustic and higher-order semantic information. We tested the theory that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show enhanced processing of acoustic features and impaired processing of semantic information. Methods: We used a change deafness task that required detection of speech and non-speech auditory objects being replaced and a speech-in-noise task using spoken sentences that must be comprehended in the presence of background speech to examine the extent to which 7–15 year old children with ASD (n = 27) rely on acoustic and semantic information, compared to age-matched (n = 27) and IQ-matched (n = 27) groups of typically developing (TD) children. Within a larger group of 7–15 year old TD children (n = 105) we correlated IQ, ASD symptoms, and the use of acoustic and semantic information. Results: Children with ASD performed worse overall at the change deafness task relative to the age-matched TD controls, but they did not differ from IQ-matched controls. All groups utilized acoustic and semantic information similarly and displayed an attentional bias towards changes that involved the human voice. Similarly, for the speech-in-noise task, age-matched–but not IQ-matched–TD controls performed better overall than the ASD group. However, all groups used semantic context to a similar degree. Among TD children, neither IQ nor the presence of ASD symptoms predict the use of acoustic or semantic information. Conclusion: Children with and without ASD used acoustic and semantic information similarly during auditory change deafness and speech-in-noise tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a brief review of research along with a recommended music program with the purpose of facilitating constructive and loving relationships between autistic individuals and their allistic siblings. We highlight research regarding the need for family-based interventions, as well as the benefits of music participation for both the individuals with autism and their allistic siblings. Finally, we recommend a world percussion program for the siblings to participate in together that coincides with an allistic sibling support group. Music educators can facilitate growth within these relationships because they have a unique perspective on the individuals involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Autistic children with limited spoken language ability (LSLA) often do not respond to traditional interventions, reducing their social inclusion. It is essential to identify effective interventions, and sensitive measures to track their intervention response. Methods: Using data from an RCT comparing music-mediated and play-based interventions, we investigated the impact of spoken language ability on outcomes, and measured response to intervention through natural language sample measures. Results: Children with lower verbal IQ, relative to higher verbal IQ, made some greater gains over the course of music-mediated intervention. Natural language samples were helpful in characterizing communication and tracking change. Conclusion: Music-mediated interventions hold promise as effective interventions for autistic children with LSLA. Natural language samples are robust in characterizing this subgroup. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of a connection between autism and music is as old as the first reported cases of autism, and music has been used as a therapeutic tool for many decades. Music therapy holds promise as an intervention for individuals with autism, harnessing their strengths in music processing to enhance communication and expression. While previous randomized controlled trials have demonstrated positive outcomes in terms of global improvement and quality of life, their reliance on psychological outcomes restricts our understanding of underlying mechanisms. This paper introduces the protocol for the Music for Autism study, a randomized crossover trial designed to investigate the effects of a 12-week music therapy intervention on a range of psychometric, neuroimaging, and biological outcomes in school-aged children with autism. The protocol builds upon previous research and aims to both replicate and expand upon findings that demonstrated improvements in social communication and functional brain connectivity following a music intervention. The primary objective of this trial is to determine whether music therapy leads to improvements in social communication and functional brain connectivity as compared to playbased therapy. In addition, secondary aims include exploring various relevant psychometric, neuroimaging, and biological outcomes. To achieve these objectives, we will enroll 80 participants aged 6-12 years in this international, assessor-blinded, crossover randomized controlled trial. Each participant will be randomly assigned to receive either music therapy or play-based therapy for a period of 12 weeks, followed by a 12-week washout period, after which they will receive the alternate intervention. Assessments will be conducted four times, before and after each intervention period. The protocol of the Music for Autism trial provides a comprehensive framework for studying the effects of music therapy on a range of multidimensional outcomes in children with autism. The findings from this trial have the potential to contribute to the development of evidence-based interventions that leverage strengths in music processing to address the complex challenges faced by individuals with autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jeremy Sawyer recounts that, after Lev S. Vygotsky’s death, Jean Piaget conceded the Russian psychologist correctly understood the social origins, functions, and developmental trajectory of children’s egocentric speech (now called private speech) but dismissed this work as irrelevant to children’s egocentrism or nondifferentiation of perspectives. Sawyer asserts that, although Piaget precluded perspective taking in egocentric speech, a post-Vygotskian framework suggests private speech and sociodramatic play may actually promote perspective taking, thereby reducing egocentrism. In light of these assertions, Sawyer examines private speech transcripts from preschoolers for evidence of perspective taking and concludes that they suggest children internalize perspectival differences through private speech and use more implicit perspective taking than explicit mental-state terms. And preschoolers, the author suggests, employ more sociodramatic speech in a sociodramatic play context to enact imaginary scenarios and pretend roles. He concludes that, rather than a remnant of egocentrism, private speech may be a psychological tool for engaging multiple perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on correction "Response to Music‑Mediated Intervention in Autistic Children with Limited Spoken Language Ability."

Few studies have focused on bilingual language development in school-aged simultaneous bilingual children. The current study tackles this gap in the literature by examining the influence of language exposure on the development of both languages in school-aged simultaneous bilingual living in additive bilingual contexts. The language abilities of 19 school-aged simultaneous bilingual children were assessed using standardised language measures in French. Their amount of language exposure was also measured using a parent questionnaire. No correlation was found between language abilities in French and exposure to French. Results did, however, show that most of the children who received as little as 20% of their lifetime exposure to French, obtained scores within the average range on all of the measures. Additionally, children who were exposed to both of their languages on a daily basis were more likely to have better performances than their peers who used one of their languages less frequently. This effect was observed even though children in the former group received less exposure to their strongest language than children who were not exposed to both of their languages daily. Therefore, while exposure is important, other factors may have a positive influence on simultaneous bilinguals' language proficiency levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young typically developing (TD) children have been observed to utilize word learning strategies such as the noun bias and shape bias; these improve their efficiency in acquiring and categorizing novel terms. Children using the shape bias extend object labels to new objects of the same shape; thus, the shape bias prompts the categorization of object words based on the global characteristic of shape over local, discrete details. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) frequently attend to minor details of objects rather than their global structure. Therefore, children with ASD may not use shape bias to acquire new words. Previous research with children with ASD has provided evidence that they parallel TD children in showing a noun bias, but not a shape bias (Tek et al., 2008). However, this sample was small and individual and item differences were not investigated in depth. In an extension of Tek et al. (2008) with twice the sample size and a wider developmental timespan, we tested 32 children with ASD and 35 TD children in a longitudinal study across 20 months using the intermodal preferential looking paradigm. Children saw five triads of novel objects (target, shapematch, color-match) in both NoName and Name trials; those who looked longer at the shape-match during the Name trials than the NoName trials demonstrated a shape bias. The TD group showed a significant shape bias at all visits, beginning at 20 months of age while the language-matched ASD group did not show a significant shape bias at any visit.Within the ASD group, though, some children did show a shape bias; these children had larger vocabularies concurrently and longitudinally. Degree of shape bias elicitation varied by item, but did not seem related to perceptual complexity. We conclude that shape does not appear to be an organizing factor for word learning by children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delays in early language development are characteristic of young autistic children, and one of the most recognizable first concerns that motivate parents to seek a diagnostic evaluation for their child. Although early language abilities are one of the strongest predictors of long-term outcomes, there is still much to be understood about the role of language impairment in the heterogeneous phenotypic presentation of autism. Using a personcentered, Latent Profile Analysis, we first aimed to identify distinct patterns of language and social communication ability in a clinic-based sample of 498 autistic children, ranging in age from 18 to 60 months (M = 33 mo, SD = 12 mo). Next, a multinomial logistic regression analysis was implemented to examine sociodemographic and child-based developmental differences among the identified language and social communication profiles. Three clinically meaningful profiles were identified from parent-rated and clinician-administered measures: Profile 1 (48% of the sample) “Relatively Low Language and Social Communication Abilities,” Profile 2 (34% of the sample) “Relatively Elevated Language and Social Communication Abilities,” and Profile 3 (18% of the sample) “Informant Discrepant Language and Relatively Elevated Social Communication Abilities.” Overall, young autistic children from the lowest-resource households exhibited the lowest language and social communication abilities, and the lowest non-verbal problem-solving and fine-motor skills, along with more features of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and atypical auditory processing. These findings highlight the need for effective community-based implementation strategies for young autistic children from low-resource households and underrepresented communities to improve access to individualized quality care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents of young children use video chat differently than other screen media, paralleling expert recommendations (e.g., American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, 2016), which suggest that video chat, unlike other screen media, is acceptable for use by children under 18 months. Video chat is unique among screen media in that it permits contingent (time‐sensitive and content‐sensitive) social interactions. Contingent social interactions take place between a child and a partner (dyadic), with objects (triadic), and with multiple others (multi‐party configurations), which critically underpin development in multiple domains. First, we review how contingent social interaction may underlie video chat's advantages in two domains: for learning (specifically learning new words) and for social–emotional development (specifically taking turns and fostering familial relationships). Second, we describe constraints on video chat use and how using chat with an active adult (co‐viewing) may mitigate some of its limitations. Finally, we suggest future research directions that will clarify the potential advantages and impediments to the use of video chat by young children. This article is categorized under:Linguistics > Language AcquisitionPsychology > LearningCognitive Biology > Social Development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on parenting adult children with ASD were scarce, and their intervention protocols mainly were derived from established work with children. Development of an applicable adult-oriented protocol and demonstration of its effectiveness is warranted. The present study outlined the development and evaluation of Core Autism Parenting Skills (CAPS), which targets to enhance parenting self-efficacy (PSE) intervention for adult children with ASD by addressing two intervention goals in parallel: acquisition of parenting skills and cultivating positive attributes. In CAPS, PSE is operationalised into four parent roles: to observe, reinforce, empathise, and accompany, each with requisite attributes, skills, and prescribed training. Twenty-seven parents with adult children with ASD (aged 16-37) were recruited. They completed measures assessing their PSE, competence in the four parent roles, and emotional well-being at pre-training, posttraining and 2-month follow-up. The intervention was well-received by the participants and reported significant improvements in PSE, parent role competence at post-training and 2-month follow-up. The applicability of PSE and parent role competence in constructing effective parenting intervention for adult children with ASD was supported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical linguistics embraces the analytic micro-system of representation as the core of language ability, and thus deals primarily with the computations of phonology, morphology, and syntax for structural processes. Looking into recent progress in human biology, however, there have been continuous indications that the internalized language is organized for creating structural sequences larger than phrases and sentences. Research on the right cerebrum of the brain, for example, shows its neurological tasks for composing a coherent story while the studies of individuals with deficits in underpinning genotypes reveal disruptions in constructing narratives. Moreover, investigations of human evolution are compelled to acknowledge a mysterious gap in psychological capacities of Homo sapiens and their later descendant, Homo sapiens sapiens, implicating a distinct stage of the language origin beyond syntax. What all these pieces of neurobiological evidence suggest is that humans have been bestowed an inherent linguistic capability for computing the synthetic macro-system of representation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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BACKGROUND: Employment rates among individuals on the autism spectrum or with intellectual disabilities (ID) remain extremely low. Although job coaching services have contributed to successful employment for these individuals, few studies have examined the importance of such support, and even fewer have explored which services are valued most by stakeholders. OBJECTIVE: We examined the importance of employment support services through employee, employer, and job coach perspectives, and employee and employer satisfaction of job coach support. METHODS: A multiple-case study was designed with a community organization providing employment support to individuals on the autism spectrum or with ID, and their employers. Nine employee-employer-job coach triads evaluated the importance of specific services and rated their satisfaction with the job coach support. RESULTS: Services were rated as important, however, some discrepancies were observed between the groups in their ratings of services (e.g., soliciting regular feedback about the employee's performance). Satisfaction was high for employees and employers; both groups indicated that they would recommend these services. CONCLUSIONS: Job coach support was highly valued by all groups, underscoring the need for these services to be widely available, and suggesting that this support may serve as a critical factor in improving employment outcomes among this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editors of LAB wish to thank the following reviewers for volunteering their valued time and expertise in 2020 and 2021, thus ensuring high quality contributions and helping our colleagues to attain the highest possible standards in their research and writing. [Extracted from the article]

Perspective taking has been proposed to be impaired in persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially when implicit processing is required. In narrative texts, language perception and interpretation is fundamentally guided by taking the perspective of a narrator. We studied perspective taking in the linguistic domain of so-called Free Indirect Discourse (FID), during which certain text segments have to be interpreted as the thoughts or utterances of a protagonist without explicitly being marked as thought or speech representations of that protagonist (as in direct or indirect discourse). Crucially, the correct interpretation of text segments as FID depends on the ability to detect which of the protagonists "stands out" against the others and is therefore identifiable as implicit thinker or speaker. This so-called "prominence" status of a protagonist is based on linguistic properties (e.g., grammatical function , referential expression), in other words, the perspective is "hidden" and has to be inferred from the text material. In order to test whether this implicit perspective taking ability that is required for the interpretation of FID is preserved in persons with ASD, we presented short texts with three sentences to adults with and without ASD. In the last sentence, the perspective was switched either to the more or the less prominent of two protagonists. Participants were asked to rate the texts regarding their naturalness. Both diagnostic groups rated sentences with FID anchored to the less prominent protagonist as less natural than sentences with FID anchored to the more prominent protagonist. Our results that the high-level perspective taking ability in written language that is required for the interpretation of FID is well preserved in persons with ASD supports the conclusion that language skills are highly elaborated in ASD so that even the challenging attribution of utterances to protagonists is possible if they are only implicitly given. We discuss the implications in the context of claims of impaired perspective taking in ASD as well as with regard to the underlying processing of FID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, the author discusses the activities and developments in the journal in 2020, including the growth of articles about autism, the new staff like associate editor Lynn Kern Koegel, and the departure of members of the editorial board like Kevin Callahan, Lee Marcus, and David Williams.

We examined the lexical and grammatical skills of monolingual and bilingual school-age children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Thirteen monolingual and thirteen bilingual children with ASD without intellectual disability, were compared on standardized measures of vocabulary and morphology. Findings revealed that bilingual children performed in the average monolingual range on a standardized receptive vocabulary test and slightly below the average range on a standardized morphological task in their dominant language. Prior work indicates that bilingual exposure is not detrimental for early language development in children with autism. The current findings suggest that at school age, bilinguals with ASD show similar language development patterns as those described in the literature on typically-developing bilinguals., Author(s): Ana Maria Gonzalez-Barrero [sup.1] [sup.2] , Aparna Nadig [sup.1] [sup.2] Author Affiliations: (Aff1) 0000 0004 1936 8649, grid.14709.3b, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, , 2001 McGill [...]

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of music-based interventions (MI) in autism has been attested for decades. Yet, there has been little empirical investigation of the active ingredients, or processes involved in music-based interventions that differentiate them from other approaches. OBJECTIVES: Here, we examined whether two processes, joint engagement and movement, which have previously been studied in isolation, contribute as important active ingredients for the efficacy of music-based interventions. METHODS: In two separate analyses, we investigated whether (1) joint engagement with the therapist, measured using a coding scheme verified for reliability, and (2) movement elicited by music-making, measured using a computer-vision technique for quantifying motion, may drive the benefits previously observed in response to MI (but not a controlled non-MI) in children with autism. RESULTS: Compared to a non-music control intervention, children and the therapist in MI spent more time in triadic engagement (between child, therapist, and activity) and produced greater movement, with amplitude of motion closely linked to the type of musical instrument. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, these findings provide initial evidence of the active ingredients of music-based interventions in autism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the science that supports an autism diagnosis, and then analyze the particular clinical traits of autism spectrum disorder that most affect the criminal justice procedure and outcome at trial in the U.S. Topics include effective utilization of voir dire in juror selection that incorporates consideration of juror attitudes on mental disability; the effect of therapeutic jurisprudence on the overall process; and efforts to maintain dignity of autistics.

An editorial is presented on the Journal submissions have increased steadily in 2007 and in 2019. Topics inlcude the downside of the increased number of submissions being standards to become stringent, the increased number of submissions being increasingly aware of the problem of reviewer fatigue, and the diligence of the journal office in helping insure papers for review and the responsiveness of the reviewers.

The article offers information on the expansion of the periodical's editorial board and welcomes several new associate editors including Patricia Prelock, Gerrit Van Schalkwyk, and Hanna Steven. It mentions the theme issue of the periodical focusing on College Experiences for Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as Parenting Children with ASD. It also lists contributors to the periodical such as Harriet Allen, Alvi Azad, and Samy Azer.

Few evidence‐based services exist for people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as they transition into adulthood, particularly those that foster appreciation of one's own goals and strengths. We developed a transition service for adults with ASD (without Intellectual Disability), and conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) focusing on self‐report of Quality of Life and Self‐Determination outcomes. Thirty participants aged 18–29 were randomized to immediate or delayed intervention, with 26 participants analyzed after 4 were lost to follow‐up. Curriculum was tailored to participants' self‐expressed needs in three areas: social communication, self‐determination, and working with others. Groups of four‐to‐six participants with ASD and two facilitators met weekly for 10 weeks. Positive intervention effects were observed on self‐report of Quality of Life; the intervention group scored on average 2 points higher than the control group, 95% CI [−0.2, 3.9]. Positive effects were also observed on the Self Determination Scale (Interpersonal Cognitive Problem‐Solving subdomain), where the intervention group scored 2 points higher than control group 95% CI [0.082, 3.4]. In addition, participants rated skills targeted by the curriculum 6 points higher after versus before intervention, 95% CI [3.7, 8.6]. This was echoed by a subset of parents rating their child's skills as seven points higher after versus before intervention, 95% CI [1, 14]. Autism Research2018, 11: 1712–1728. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary: These findings indicate that it is possible to increase Self‐Determination and subjective Quality of Life in adults with ASD through a brief group‐format service, and provide a model for doing so. Self‐Determination abilities are linked to improved adult outcomes in individuals with other disabilities. These often overlooked factors should be incorporated in programming for adults with ASD as they transition to adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of bilingual children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have focused on early language development using parent report measures. However, the effect of bilingual exposure on more complex linguistic abilities is unknown. In the current study, we examined the impact of amount of language exposure on vocabulary and morphological skills in school‐aged children with ASD who did not have intellectual disability. Forty‐seven typically developing children and 30 children with ASD with varying exposure to French participated in the study. We investigated the impact of amount of language exposure, nonverbal IQ, age, and working memory on language abilities via regression analyses. Current amount of language exposure was the strongest predictor of both vocabulary skills (accounting for 62% of the variance) and morphological skills (accounting for 49% of the variance), for both typically‐developing children and children with ASD. These findings highlight the central role amount of language exposure plays in vocabulary and morphological development for children with ASD, as it does for typically‐developing children. In addition, they provide further evidence that, when provided with adequate language exposure, many children with ASD are capable of acquiring two languages. Autism Research2018, 11: 1667–1678. © 2018 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Lay Summary We studied typically developing children and children with ASD living in a bilingual society who had varying exposure to French (ranging from bilinguals to monolinguals). We investigated the impact of amount of language exposure, nonverbal IQ, age, and working memory on their vocabulary and morphological skills. Current amount of language exposure was the strongest predictor of language skills in both groups of children. Findings indicate that when provided with adequate language exposure, many children with ASD are capable of acquiring two languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting self-determination (SD) in youth with disabilities is positively related to better post-secondary outcomes, such as employment and independence. Despite extensive research into SD and quality of life (QoL) for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, the relation between the two has not been examined for young adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) without intellectual disability (ID). The aim of this pilot study was to examine the relationship between two complementary measures of SD, namely the Arc’s Self-Determination Scale (Wehmeyer and Kelchner 1995) and the AIR Self-Determination Scale (Wolman et al. 1994), and QoL for young adults with ASD without ID. Thirty young adults with ASD without ID living in Canada completed self-report questionnaires of SD and QoL. Correlational analyses indicated that two measures of SD were significantly associated with QoL. Regression analyses revealed that individuals with higher SD scores reported higher perceptions of life satisfaction. Thus, SD, assessed by two complementary measures, was found to be positively associated with QoL. Subsequent research should further elucidate the association between SD and QoL and examine how best to promote SD as a means of enhancing the QoL of young adults with ASD as they transition into adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of bilingualism on verbal fluency in four groups of school-age (5 to 10 years-old) children: 13 Typically-developing (TYP) monolingual children, 13 TYP bilingual children, 13 monolingual children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and 13 bilingual children with ASD. Participants were matched on chronological age and nonverbal IQ. Verbal fluency was examined via the word association subtest of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF-4; Semel et al., 2003). The bilingual ASD group performed unexpectedly well on the verbal fluency task, not differing from the typicallydeveloping groups, but outperforming the monolingual ASD group with respect to number of correct words produced. These findings are in line with previous research on bilingual children with ASD (e.g., Hambly & Fombonne, 2012) and taken together suggest that bilingualism does not have a negative impact on the lexical-semantic skills of children with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People whom the author would like to thank for their assistance in the creation of the "Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders" are mentioned including Kenneth Aitken, Steve Kroupa, and Lee Marcus.

For successful language use, interlocutors must be able to accurately assess their shared knowledge ("common ground"). Such knowledge can be accumulated through linguistic and non-linguistic context, but the same context can be associated with different patterns of knowledge, depending on the interlocutor's participant role (Wilkes-Gibbs and Clark, 1992). Although there is substantial evidence that children's ability to model partners' knowledge develops gradually, most such evidence focuses on non-linguistic context. We investigated the extent to which 8- to 10-year-old children can assess common ground developed through prior linguistic context, and whether this is sensitive to variations in participant role. Children repeatedly described tangram figures to another child, and then described the same figures to a third child who had been a side-participant, an overhearer, or absent during the initial conversation. Children showed evidence of partner modeling, producing shorter referential expressions with repeated mention to the same partner. Moreover, they demonstrated sensitivity to differences in common ground with the third child based on participant role on some but not all measures (e.g., description length, but not definiteness). Our results suggest that by ten, children make distinctions about common ground accumulated through prior linguistic context but do not yet consistently deploy this knowledge in an adult-like way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over repeated reference conversational partners tend to converge on preferred terms or referential pacts. Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by pragmatic difficulties that are best captured by less structured tasks. To this end we tested adults with ASD who did not have language or intellectual impairments, and neurotypical comparison participants in a referential communication task. Participants were directors, describing unlexicalized, complex novel stimuli over repeated rounds of interaction. Group comparisons with respect to referential efficiency showed that directors with ASD demonstrated typical lexical entrainment: they became faster over repeated rounds and used shortened referential forms. ASD and neurotypical groups did not differ with respect to the number of descriptors they provided or the number of exchanges needed for matchers to identify figures. Despite these similarities the ASD group was slightly slower overall. We examined partner-specific effects by manipulating the common ground shared with the matcher. As expected, neurotypical directors maintained referential precedents when speaking to the same matcher but not with a new matcher. Directors with ASD were qualitatively similar but displayed a less pronounced distinction between matchers. However, significant differences and different patterns of reference emerged over time; neurotypical directors incorporated the new matcher's contributions into descriptions, whereas directors with ASD were less likely to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that children with typical development ( TYP) exposed to more maternal linguistic input develop larger vocabularies. We know relatively little about the linguistic environment available to children with autism spectrum disorders ( ASD), and whether input contributes to their later vocabulary. Children with ASD or TYP and their mothers from English and French-speaking families engaged in a 10 min free-play interaction. To compare input, children were matched on language ability, sex, and maternal education ( ASD n = 20, TYP n = 20). Input was transcribed, and the number of word tokens and types, lexical diversity ( D), mean length of utterances ( MLU), and number of utterances were calculated. We then examined the relationship between input and children's spoken vocabulary 6 months later in a larger sample ( ASD: n = 19, 50-85 months; TYP: n = 44, 25-58 months). No significant group differences were found on the five input features. A hierarchical multiple regression model demonstrated input MLU significantly and positively contributed to spoken vocabulary 6 months later in both groups, over and above initial language levels. No significant difference was found between groups in the slope between input MLU and later vocabulary. Our findings reveal children with ASD and TYP of similar language levels are exposed to similar maternal linguistic environments regarding number of word tokens and types, D, MLU, and number of utterances. Importantly, linguistic input accounted for later vocabulary growth in children with ASD. Autism Res 2015, 8: 214-223. © 2015 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2008.04.008 Byline: Giacomo Vivanti (a), Aparna Nadig (b), Sally Ozonoff (a), Sally J. Rogers (a) Keywords: Imitation; Visual attention; Autism; Action understanding; Eye-tracking; Gaze processing Abstract: Individuals with autism show a complex profile of differences in imitative ability, including a general deficit in precision of imitating another's actions and special difficulty in imitating nonmeaningful gestures relative to meaningful actions on objects. Given that they also show atypical patterns of visual attention when observing social stimuli, we investigated whether possible differences in visual attention when observing an action to be imitated may contribute to imitative difficulties in autism in both nonmeaningful gestures and meaningful actions on objects. Results indicated that (a) a group of 18 high-functioning 8- to 15-year-olds with autistic disorder, in comparison with a matched group of 13 typically developing children, showed similar patterns of visual attention to the demonstrator's action but decreased attention to his face when observing a model to be imitated; (b) nonmeaningful gestures and meaningful actions on objects triggered distinct visual attention patterns that did not differ between groups; (c) the autism group demonstrated reduced imitative precision for both types of imitation; and (d) duration of visual attention to the demonstrator's action was related to imitation precision for nonmeaningful gestures in the autism group. Author Affiliation: (a) The M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California, Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA (b) School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, McGill University, Montreal, QC Canada, H3G 1A8 Article History: Received 7 August 2007; Revised 25 April 2008