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Pre- and Paralinguistic Vocal Production in ASD: Birth Through School Age

  • Autism Spectrum Disorders (ES Brodkin, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

We review what is known about how pre-linguistic vocal differences in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) unfold across development and consider whether vocalization features can serve as useful diagnostic indicators.

Recent Findings

Differences in the frequency and acoustic quality of several vocalization types (e.g., babbles and cries) during the first year of life are associated with later ASD diagnosis. Paralinguistic features (e.g., prosody) measured during early and middle childhood can accurately classify current ASD diagnosis using cross-validated machine learning approaches.

Summary

Pre-linguistic vocalization differences in infants are promising behavioral markers of later ASD diagnosis. In older children, paralinguistic features hold promise as diagnostic indicators as well as clinical targets. Future research efforts should focus on (1) bridging the gap between basic research and practical implementations of early vocalization-based risk assessment tools, and (2) demonstrating the clinical impact of targeting atypical vocalization features during social skill interventions for older children.

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Funding

This work supported by the Autism Science Foundation ASF #19-006 (grantee: Yankowitz), and NIDCD R03DC017944, “Infant Vocalizations as Early Markers of Autism Spectrum Disorder” (PI: Parish-Morris).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 2716 South St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Lisa D. Yankowitz, Robert T. Schultz & Julia Parish-Morris

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3720 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Lisa D. Yankowitz

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19105, USA

    Robert T. Schultz & Julia Parish-Morris

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19105, USA

    Robert T. Schultz

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  1. Lisa D. Yankowitz
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Correspondence to Lisa D. Yankowitz.

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Yankowitz, L.D., Schultz, R.T. & Parish-Morris, J. Pre- and Paralinguistic Vocal Production in ASD: Birth Through School Age. Curr Psychiatry Rep 21, 126 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-019-1113-1

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