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Related Experiment Videos

Inferential language in high-function children with autism.

M Dennis1, A L Lazenby, L Lockyer

  • 1Department of Psychology Research, Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada. mdennis@sickkids.on.ca

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
|July 7, 2001
PubMed
Summary

High-functioning children with autism struggle with pragmatic inferences in language, impacting social communication. They understand basic word meanings but miss implied intentions and figurative language.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit social communication challenges.
  • These deficits persist even in high-functioning individuals with average verbal intelligence.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate pragmatic inference abilities in high-functioning children with autism.
  • To determine if social comprehension deficits stem from difficulties in making specific types of language-based inferences.

Main Methods:

  • Compared 8 high-functioning children with autism (Verbal IQ > 70) to typically developing children.
  • Assessed abilities in understanding and using various pragmatic inferences: mental state verbs, bridging, elaborative, and intentional inferences (speech acts).

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Main Results:

  • Children with autism could define words and identify multiple meanings.
  • They inferred presupposed knowledge from mental state verbs but failed to infer implied meanings.
  • Deficits were observed in understanding social scripts, metaphor, and producing speech acts.

Conclusions:

  • High-functioning children with autism make some, but not all, necessary pragmatic inferences.
  • Difficulties in inferring implied meanings, social scripts, figurative language, and intentions underlie social communication challenges in autism.