Referencing skills in children with autism and specific language impairment

This study presents the data on the referencing strategies used in dialogue by 10 young autistic children, eight with specific language impairment, and eight with normal language development. The three groups of children were matched for language age (including mean length of utterance (MLU), receptive vocabulary, and syntax). Correct and erroneous use of pronominal, demonstrative, and comparative cohesive ties of reference were examined by use of Halliday and Hasan's (1976) method of discourse cohension analysis. The study found that autistic children were able to use all of the above cohesive ties of reference, but their use was less successful than that of the other two groups of children. The autistic children also differed qualitatively in the types of errors that they made. Findings were discussed in relation to various developmental, linguistic, and social factors that may underlie the successful usage of different cohesive ties and subtypes of ties.