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Maksimović S, Marisavljević M, Stanojević N, Ćirović M, Punišić S, Adamović T, Đorđević J, Krgović I, Subotić M. Importance of Early Intervention in Reducing Autistic Symptoms and Speech-Language Deficits in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. CHILDREN (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 10:children10010122. [PMID: 36670672 PMCID: PMC9857540 DOI: 10.3390/children10010122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
The intervention focused on starting treatment at an early age to develop the child’s full potential, which is known as early intervention. Given that autistic symptoms and language deficits occur at an early age and affect other areas of development in children with autistic spectrum disorder, we wanted to examine if early intervention is more effective in the reduction in autistic symptoms and language deficits in children aged 36−47 months old when compared to children 48−60 months old. The sample consisted of 29 children diagnosed with ASD who were admitted for integrative therapy. All participants were divided into two groups based on age: G1: 36−47 months old children, and G2: 48−60 months old children. To estimate the presence of autistic symptoms, we used the GARS-3, and for the assessment of speech−language abilities, we used the subscale Estimated Speech and Language Development (ESLD). Our results regarding the effect of the group on the difference in the scores at two time points showed that there was a statistically significant effect of the group on the reduction in autistic symptoms (p < 0.05) but no effect of the group on the differences in speech−language abilities between the two time points (p > 0.05). Our study highlights the importance of emphasizing the exact age when using the terms “early intervention” and “early development” in future studies and practice because it is necessary to determine and establish guidelines about which particular ages are crucial for starting treatment in certain developmental aspects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Slavica Maksimović
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Maša Marisavljević
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Nina Stanojević
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Correspondence:
| | - Milica Ćirović
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Silvana Punišić
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Tatjana Adamović
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
| | - Jelena Đorđević
- Clinic for Neurology and Psychiatry for Children and Youth, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia
| | - Ivan Krgović
- Institute for Children’s Diseases, Clinical Center of Montenegro, 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro
| | - Miško Subotić
- Cognitive Neuroscience Department, Research and Development Institute “Life Activitites Advancement Center”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
- Department of Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences, Institute for Experimental Phonetics and Speech Pathology “Đorđe Kostić”, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
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Kissine M, Clin E, de Villiers J. [Pragmatics in autism spectrum disorder: recent developments]. Med Sci (Paris) 2016; 32:874-878. [PMID: 27758752 DOI: 10.1051/medsci/20163210021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by primary pragmatic difficulties, out of step with verbal and non-verbal developmental level. This selective survey paper addresses three recent domains of research on pragmatic functions in autism. First, we provide an up-to-date discussion of how lack of sensitivity to social cues impacts early acquisition of words. Second, we review recent findings on the comprehension of non-literal language, pointing to a more refined clinical reality. Third, we describe recent developments in the study of conversation skills in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikhail Kissine
- ACTE/LaDisco, Université libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgique
| | - Elise Clin
- ACTE/LaDisco, Université libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgique
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De Marchena A, Eigsti IM. The art of common ground: emergence of a complex pragmatic language skill in adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2016; 43:43-80. [PMID: 25708810 PMCID: PMC4764348 DOI: 10.1017/s0305000915000070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/19/2023]
Abstract
Deficits in pragmatic language are central to autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here we investigate common ground, a pragmatic language skill in which speakers adjust the contents of their speech based on their interlocutor's perceived knowledge, in adolescents with ASD and typical development (TD), using an experimental narrative paradigm. Consistent with prior research, TD participants produced shorter narrations when they shared knowledge with an interlocutor, an effect not observed at the group level in ASD. This effect was unrelated to general skills such as IQ or receptive vocabulary. In ASD, the effect was correlated with age and symptom severity: older and less severely affected participants did shorten their narratives. Several metrics (including explicit references to common ground, speech disfluencies, and communicative quality ratings) suggested that, although adolescents with ASD did not show implicit reductions in their narrative length, they were aware of common ground, and communicated differently in its presence.
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Lartseva A, Dijkstra T, Buitelaar JK. Emotional language processing in autism spectrum disorders: a systematic review. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 8:991. [PMID: 25610383 PMCID: PMC4285104 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2014.00991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2014] [Accepted: 11/20/2014] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
In his first description of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), Kanner emphasized emotional impairments by characterizing children with ASD as indifferent to other people, self-absorbed, emotionally cold, distanced, and retracted. Thereafter, emotional impairments became regarded as part of the social impairments of ASD, and research mostly focused on understanding how individuals with ASD recognize visual expressions of emotions from faces and body postures. However, it still remains unclear how emotions are processed outside of the visual domain. This systematic review aims to fill this gap by focusing on impairments of emotional language processing in ASD. We systematically searched PubMed for papers published between 1990 and 2013 using standardized search terms. Studies show that people with ASD are able to correctly classify emotional language stimuli as emotionally positive or negative. However, processing of emotional language stimuli in ASD is associated with atypical patterns of attention and memory performance, as well as abnormal physiological and neural activity. Particularly, younger children with ASD have difficulties in acquiring and developing emotional concepts, and avoid using these in discourse. These emotional language impairments were not consistently associated with age, IQ, or level of development of language skills. We discuss how emotional language impairments fit with existing cognitive theories of ASD, such as central coherence, executive dysfunction, and weak Theory of Mind. We conclude that emotional impairments in ASD may be broader than just a mere consequence of social impairments, and should receive more attention in future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina Lartseva
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical CentreNijmegen, Netherlands
- International Max Planck Research School for Language Sciences, Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ton Dijkstra
- Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University NijmegenNijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jan K. Buitelaar
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical CentreNijmegen, Netherlands
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Clopper CG, Rohrbeck KL, Wagner L. Perception of dialect variation by young adults with high-functioning autism. J Autism Dev Disord 2012; 42:740-54. [PMID: 21671116 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-011-1305-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
The linguistic profile of people with Autism spectrum disorders typically involves intact perceptual processing, accompanied by deficits in the social functions of language. In a series of three experiments, the impact of this profile on the perception of regional dialect was examined. Young adults with High-Functioning Autism exhibited similar performance to a typically developing comparison group in regional dialect classification and localness rating tasks, suggesting that they can use indexical information in speech to make judgments about the regional background of unfamiliar talkers. However, the participants with High-Functioning Autism were less able to differentiate among the dialects in a language attitudes task, suggesting that they do not share social stereotypes related to dialect variation with the typically developing comparison group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia G Clopper
- Department of Linguistics, Ohio State University, 1712 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
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