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Updated: May 15, 2026

Using the Visual World Paradigm to Study Sentence Comprehension in Mandarin-Speaking Children with Autism
Published on: October 3, 2018
Profound expressive language impairment in low functioning children with autism: an investigation of syntactic
Maggie McGonigle-Chalmers1, Ben Alderson-Day, Joanna Fleming
1Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9QU, Scotland, UK. M.McGonigle@ed.ac.uk
Abstract:
Nine low-functioning children with profound expressive language impairment and autism were studied in terms of their responsiveness to a computer-based learning program designed to assess syntactic awareness. The children learned to touch words on a screen in the correct sequence in order to see a corresponding animation, such as 'monkey flies'. The game progressed in levels from 2 to 4 word sequences, contingent upon success at each stage. Although performance was highly variable across participants, a detailed review of their learning profiles suggested that no child lacked syntactic awareness and that elementary syntactic control in a non-speech domain was superior to that manifest in their spoken language. The reasons for production failures at the level of speech in children with autism are discussed.
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