Complex syntax in autism spectrum disorders: a study of relative clauses

The Comprehension of Grammatical Structures in a Pediatric Population with ASD and Epilepsy: A Comparative Study

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy represent a comorbidity that negatively influences the proper development of linguistic competencies, particularly in receptive language, in the pediatric population. This group displays impairments in the auditory comprehension of both simple and complex grammatical structures, significantly limiting their performance in language-related activities, hampering their integration into social contexts, and affecting their quality of life. The main objective of this study was to assess auditory comprehension of grammatical structures in individuals with ASD and epilepsy and compare the results among the three groups. A non-experimental cross-sectional study was designed, including a total of 170 participants aged between 7 and 9 years, divided into three groups: a group with ASD, a group with epilepsy, and a comorbid group with both ASD and epilepsy (ASDEP). The comprehension of grammatical structures was assessed using the CEG and CELF-5 instruments. Statistical analyses included MANOVA and ANOVA to compare scores between groups to verify associations between study variables. The results indicate that the group with ASD and epilepsy performed worse compared to the ASD and epilepsy-only groups, respectively. Additionally, a significant and directly proportional association was observed among all variables within the measures of grammatical structure comprehension. The neurological damage caused by epilepsy in the pediatric population with ASD leads to difficulties in understanding oral language. This level of functioning significantly limits the linguistic performance of these children, negatively impacting their quality of life and the development of core language skills.

Specific Language Impairment, Autism Spectrum Disorders and Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorders: Is There Overlap in Language Deficits? A Review

Analysing language characteristics and understanding their dynamics is the key for a successful intervention by speech and language therapists (SLT). Thus, this review aims to investigate a possible overlap in language development shared by autism spectrum disorders (ASD), specific language impairment (SLI) and social (pragmatic) communication disorder (SPCD). The sources of this work were the PubMed, PsycInfo and SciELO databases, as well as the Scientific Open Access Repositories of Portugal. The final selection included 18 studies, focused on several linguistic areas. Results suggest that when individuals are matched according to some language or cognitive skills, they will also show similar characteristics in other language domains. Future work should be done based on spontaneous speech.

A Preliminary Examination of the Impact of Working Memory Training on Syntax and Processing Speed in Children with ASD

In addition to deficits in pragmatics, children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have weaknesses in complex syntax and working memory (WM). These two deficits may be closely related. Previous work investigated the effects of WM training in developmental language disorders and showed significant improvement in both WM and syntax. The current study tests the impact of 12 h of WM training across 8 weeks in 30 children with ASD, aged 5 to 11. Results showed direct improvements on untrained WM tasks, as well as transfer effects to syntax and processing speed. Stronger WM led to better syntactic abilities. While they must be replicated, these exciting results provide impetus for further studies of WM interventions.

Brain and Language Associations in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Scoping Review

Examining brain and behaviour associations for language in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may bring us closer to identifying neural profiles that are unique to a subgroup of individuals with ASD identified as language impaired (e.g. ASD LI+). We conducted a scoping review to examine brain regions that are associated with language performance in ASD. Further, we examined methodological differences across studies in how language ability was characterized and what neuroimaging methods were used to explore brain regions. Seventeen studies met inclusion criteria. Brain regions specific to ASD LI+ groups were found, however inconsistencies in brain and language associations were evident across study findings. Participant age, age-appropriate language scores, and neuroimaging methods likely contributed to differences in associations found.

Exploring the Neural Structures Underlying the Procedural Memory Network as Predictors of Language Ability in Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Introduction: There is significant overlap in the type of structural language impairments exhibited by children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This similarity suggests that the cognitive impairment(s) contributing to the structural language deficits in ASD and ADHD may be shared. Previous studies have speculated that procedural memory deficits may be the shared cognitive impairment. The procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH) argues that language deficits can be explained by differences in the neural structures underlying the procedural memory network. This hypothesis is based on the premise that the neural structures comprising the procedural network support language learning. In this study, we aimed to test the PDH in children with ASD, ADHD, and typical development (TD).

Methods: One hundred and sixty-three participants (ages 10–21): 91 with ASD, 26 with ADHD, and 46 with TD, completed standardized measures of cognitive and language ability as well as structural magnetic resonance imaging. We compared the structural language abilities, the neural structures underlying the procedural memory network, and the relationship between structural language and neural structure across diagnostic groups.

Results: Our analyses revealed that while the structural language abilities differed across ASD, ADHD, and TD groups, the thickness, area, and volume of the structures supporting the procedural memory network were not significantly different between diagnostic groups. Also, several neural structures were associated with structural language abilities across diagnostic groups. Only two of these structures, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the left superior parietal gyrus, are known to be linked to the procedural memory network.

Conclusions: The inferior frontal gyrus and the left superior parietal gyrus, have well-established roles in language learning independent of their role as part of the procedural memory system. Other structures such as the caudate and cerebellum, with critical roles in the procedural memory network, were not associated with structural language abilities across diagnostic groups. It is unclear whether the procedural memory network plays a fundamental role in language learning in ASD, ADHD, and TD.

White Matter Tract-Cognitive Relationships in Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the present study was to clarify the relationship between white matter tracts and cognitive symptoms in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

METHODS

We examined the cognitive functions of 17 children with high-functioning ASD and 18 typically developing (TD) controls and performed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography. We compared the results between the groups and investigated the correlations between the cognitive scores and DTI parameters within each group.

RESULTS

The Comprehension scores in the ASD group exhibited a positive correlation with mean diffusivity (MD) in the forceps minor (F minor). In the TD group, the Comprehension scores were positively correlated with fractional anisotropy (FA) in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO) and left anterior thalamic radiation (ATR), and negatively correlated with MD in the left ATR, radial diffusivity (RD) in the right IFO, and RD in the left ATR. Additionally, a positive correlation was observed between the Matching Numbers scores and MD in the left uncinate fasciculus and F minor, and RD in the F minor. Furthermore, the Sentence Questions scores exhibited a positive correlation with RD in the right inferior longitudinal fasciculus. Relative to TD controls, the specific tract showing a strong correlation with the cognitive scores was reduced in the ASD group.

CONCLUSION

Our findings indicate that white matter tracts connecting specific brain areas may exhibit a weaker relationship with cognitive functions in children with ASD, resulting in less efficient cognitive pathways than those observed in TD children.

Temporarily Out of Order: Temporal Perspective Taking in Language in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Clinical reports suggest that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) struggle with time perception, but few studies have investigated this. This is the first study to examine these children's understanding of before and after. These temporal conjunctions have been argued to require additional cognitive effort when conjoining two events in a clause order that is incongruent with their order in time. Given the suggested time perception impairment and well-established cognitive deficits of children with ASD, we expected them to have difficulties interpreting temporal conjunctions, especially in an incongruent order. To investigate this, the interpretation of before and after in congruent and incongruent orders was examined in 48 children with ASD and 43 typically developing (TD) children (age 6-12). Additional tasks were administered to measure Theory of Mind (ToM), working memory (WM), cognitive inhibition, cognitive flexibility, IQ, and verbal ability. We found that children with ASD were less accurate in their interpretation of temporal conjunctions than their TD peers. Contrary to our expectations, they did not have particular difficulties in an incongruent order. Furthermore, older children showed better overall performance than younger children. The difference between children with ASD and TD children was explained by WM, ToM, IQ, and verbal ability, but not by cognitive inhibition and flexibility. These cognitive functions are more likely to be impaired in children with ASD than in TD children, which could account for their poorer performance. Thus, the cognitive factors found to affect the interpretation of temporal language in children with ASD are likely to apply in typical development as well. Sufficient WM capacity and verbal ability may help children to process complex sentences conjoined by a temporal conjunction. Additionally, ToM understanding was found to be related to children's interpretation of temporal conjunctions in an incongruent order, indicating that perspective taking is required when events are presented out of order. We conclude from this that perspective-taking abilities are needed for the interpretation of temporal conjunctions, either to shift one's own perspective as a hearer to another point in time, or to shift to the perspective of the speaker to consider the speaker's linguistic choices.

The Locus Preservation Hypothesis: Shared Linguistic Profiles across Developmental Disorders and the Resilient Part of the Human Language Faculty

Grammatical markers are not uniformly impaired across speakers of different languages, even when speakers share a diagnosis and the marker in question is grammaticalized in a similar way in these languages. The aim of this work is to demarcate, from a cross-linguistic perspective, the linguistic phenotype of three genetically heterogeneous developmental disorders: specific language impairment, Down syndrome, and autism spectrum disorder. After a systematic review of linguistic profiles targeting mainly English-, Greek-, Catalan-, and Spanish-speaking populations with developmental disorders (n = 880), shared loci of impairment are identified and certain domains of grammar are shown to be more vulnerable than others. The distribution of impaired loci is captured by the Locus Preservation Hypothesis which suggests that specific parts of the language faculty are immune to impairment across developmental disorders. Through the Locus Preservation Hypothesis, a classical chicken and egg question can be addressed: Do poor conceptual resources and memory limitations result in an atypical grammar or does a grammatical breakdown lead to conceptual and memory limitations? Overall, certain morphological markers reveal themselves as highly susceptible to impairment, while syntactic operations are preserved, granting support to the first scenario. The origin of resilient syntax is explained from a phylogenetic perspective in connection to the "syntax-before-phonology" hypothesis.

C-Command in the Grammars of Children with High Functioning Autism

A recent study questioned the adherence of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to a linguistic constraint on the use of reflexive pronouns (Principle A) in sentences like Bart's dad is touching himself. This led researchers to question whether children with ASD are able to compute the hierarchical structural relationship of c-command, and raised the possibility that the children rely on a linear strategy for reference assignment. The current study investigates the status of c-command in children with ASD by testing their interpretation of sentences like (1) and (2) that tease apart use of c-command and a linear strategy for reference assignment.

The girl who stayed up late will not get a dime or a jewel (C-command)

The girl who didn't go to sleep will get a dime or a jewel (Non C-command)

These examples both contain negation (not or didn't) and disjunction (or). In (1), negation c-commands the disjunction phrase, yielding a conjunctive entailment. This gives rise to the meaning that the girl who stayed up late won't get a dime and she won't get a jewel. In (2), negation is positioned inside a relative clause and it does not c-command disjunction. Therefore, no conjunctive entailment follows. Thus, (2) is true if the girl just gets a dime or just a jewel, or possibly both. If children with ASD lack c-command, then (1) will not give rise to a conjunctive entailment. In this case, children might rely on a linear strategy for reference assignment. Since negation precedes disjunction in both (1) and (2), they might be interpreted in a similar manner. Likewise, children who show knowledge of c-command should perform well on sentences governed by Principle A. These hypotheses were tested in experiments with 12 Australian children with HFA, aged 5;4 to 12;7, and 12 typically-developing controls, matched on non-verbal IQ. There was no significant difference in the pattern of responses by children with HFA and the control children on either (1) and (2) or the Principle A sentences. The findings provide preliminary support for the proposal that knowledge of c-command and Principle A is intact in HFA children.

Hierarchical phrase-based grammatical analysis of language samples from Cantonese-speaking children with and without autism

The present study made a reference to Zhu Dexi's phrase-based grammar approach to analyse Cantonese utterances hierarchically into 14 syntactic structures (SS). A total of 68 speech samples from Cantonese-speaking children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were collected. The mean length of utterance in words (MLUw), the number of syntactic structures (NOSS), the number of different syntactic structures (NODSS) and the flexibility of syntactic structures (FSS) of the samples were calculated. Comparisons among four groups of typically developing (TD) children revealed that all the indexes show developmental changes across age stages. Comparisons between ASD subjects and their age-matched (AM) and MLUw-matched (MM) normal peers were done. MLUw, NOSS and NODSS and FSS could be used to distinguish autistic children from their AM normal peers, but only FSS could be used to distinguish ASD from MM groups qualitatively and quantitatively. The lack of production of SP, V1O/SV2 and Coord1Coord2 with low FSS may be one of the factors that will affect ASD children's further syntactic development.