Comparing the Pragmatic Speech Profiles of Minimally Verbal and Verbally Fluent Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorde
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Comparing the Pragmatic Speech Profiles of Minimally Verbal and Verbally Fluent Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder Chelsea La Valle1 · Daniela Plesa‑Skwerer1 · Helen Tager‑Flusberg1
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Although pragmatic speech impairments have been found across the autism spectrum, how these manifest in minimally verbal (MV) individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has not been studied. We compared the pragmatic speech profiles of MV (n = 50) and verbally fluent (VF) individuals with ASD (n = 50; 6–21 years-old) based on natural language sampling during the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-2. MV individuals with ASD primarily used their speech to agree/ acknowledge/disagree, respond to a question, and request. In contrast, the primary pragmatic function used by VF individuals was commenting. Out of the total non-echolalic speech, groups did not differ proportionally in labeling and response to questions. Findings highlight the importance of investigating multiple aspects of pragmatic communication across different conversational partners and contexts. Keywords Autism spectrum disorder · Minimally verbal · Pragmatic speech · Social development · Natural language sampling
Introduction Within the field of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research, most studies on pragmatic speech functioning have focused either on young toddlers and preschoolers or on older verbally fluent (VF) individuals (Capps et al. 1998; Koning and Magill-Evans 2001; Loveland et al. 1988; Paul et al. 2008; Shriberg et al. 2001; Tager-Flusberg and Kasari 2013). While fluency and flexibility in the use of spoken language clearly underlie the distinction between minimally verbal (MV) and verbally fluent individuals (VF) with ASD, impairments in pragmatic speech appear across the autism spectrum (Lam and Yeung 2012; Tager-Flusberg et al. 2005). However, no studies have investigated how MV children and adolescents with ASD use their limited speech to communicate with others. Here, we present the first study that investigates the pragmatic functions of spoken language used by MV individuals with ASD, when compared to age-peers with fluent language, based on natural language * Chelsea La Valle [email protected] 1
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Center for Autism Research Excellence, Boston University, 100 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA 02215, USA
sampling. Other aspects of communication, such as how they use other vocal behaviors besides speech or other communication modalities (e.g., gestures) are not considered here. This study, informed by ‘speech act’ theory, intends to lend key insights into whether, for MV individuals with ASD, pragmatic functions are preserved in the context of reduced speech output or whether they present with a distinct pragmatic speech profile.
Pragmatic Impairments in ASD Pragmatic language refers to a broad array of social-linguistic skills encompassing social and communicative aspects of conversational interacti
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