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…

Background: There are an increasing number of English Learners (EL) served in schools, including children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, little is known about students who receive school-based services as EL and under autism eligibility. Purpose & Methods: The present study aimed to examine the sociodemographic characteristics,…

We examined the narrative abilities of bilingual and monolingual children on the autism spectrum (AS), whether bilinguals presented stronger social and pragmatic language abilities compared to monolinguals, and the link between narrative, social, and pragmatic language abilities. The narrative, social, and pragmatic language skills of school-aged…

Purpose: Relative clauses present a well-known processing asymmetry between object-extracted and subject-extracted dependencies across both typical and atypical populations. The present study aimed at exploring the comprehension of object and subject relative clauses as conceptualized by the Relativized Minimality framework in autistic children…

Longitudinal research on language abilities and social functioning in young children suggests that gains in one domain affect gains in the other. However, few studies have examined inter-relations of language and social functioning jointly among young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Pre-verbal toddlers with ASD are a group…

The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) measures autistic traits and has been studied in different countries, sometimes with the English version, and sometimes with translated versions. However, the language of the questionnaire might influence non-native English speakers' answering tendency. In the current study we compared the responses on the AQ of…

In spite of the close relationship between gestures and expressive language, little research has examined the roles of the parents' and children's gestures in the development of expressive language abilities in autistic children. Previous findings are also inconclusive. In the present study, we coded the gestures produced by the parents and their…

Since autism diagnosis is directly linked to the availability of supportive services, identifying best practices for early diagnosis of autism has long been a concern of professionals and families. Meanwhile, studies show persistent racial disparities in autism diagnosis. Although numerous clinical diagnostic guidelines have been published, there…

We report preliminary results of computer vision analysis of caregiver-child interactions during free play with children diagnosed with autism (N = 29, 41-91 months), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD, N = 22, 48-100 months), or combined autism + ADHD (N = 20, 56-98 months), and neurotypical children (NT, N = 7, 55-95 months). We…

Prior studies of sex-based differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have yielded mixed findings. This study examined ASD symptom severity and functional correlates in a sample of 34 high-functioning females with ASD (HFASD; M age = 8.93; M IQ = 104.64) compared to 34 matched males (M age = 8.96; M IQ = 104.44) using the Social Responsiveness…

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have reading profiles characterized by higher decoding skills and lower reading comprehension. This study assessed whether this profile was apparent in young children with ASD and examined concurrent and longitudinal predictors of early reading. A discrepant profile of reading (higher alphabet and…

The production of specific mental state terms types and functions by caregivers and their TD children and caregivers and their children with ASD were assessed in two contexts: a parent's story-telling task and a child's story-telling task. Caregivers of children with ASD produced less causal talk and proportionally less desire and cognitive talk…

This study of 80 autistic (ages 6-18), mentally handicapped, and normal children found that more autistic subjects used neologisms and idiosyncratic language than age- and language-skill-matched control groups. More autistic children used words inappropriately that were neither phonologically nor conceptually related to intended English words than…

Individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS), a high functioning variant of Autism, are often noted to possess intact language ability, yet fail to use this language capacity to engage in interactive communication. This difficulty using language in a social context has been referred to as a deficit in pragmatic language. In particular, difficulty…

A study of five adult males with autism investigated which combination of input/output modalities (typed or spoken) enhanced the syntactic, semantic, and/or pragmatic performance of individuals with autism when engaging in conversations with a normal language adult. Results found that typed communications facilitated the use of longer utterances.…