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Lexical Processing in School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Role of Semantics

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Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) often have immature lexical-semantic knowledge; however, the organization of lexical-semantic knowledge is poorly understood. This study examined lexical processing in school-age children with ASD, SLI, and typical development, who were matched on receptive vocabulary. Children completed a lexical decision task, involving words with high and low semantic network sizes and nonwords. Children also completed nonverbal updating and shifting tasks. Children responded more accurately to words from high than from low semantic networks; however, follow-up analyses identified weaker semantic network effects in the SLI group. Additionally, updating and shifting abilities predicted lexical processing, demonstrating similarity in the mechanisms which underlie semantic processing in children with ASD, SLI, and typical development.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the families who participated in our study as well as the graduate and undergraduate students who contributed to this work. Particular thanks goes to Meghan Davidson, Heidi Sindberg, Ishanti Gangopadhyay, Megan Gross, Miliana Buac, and Chris Cox. Additionally, we would like to acknowledge the funding sources that supported this project: R01 DC011750 (Ellis Weismer and Kaushanskaya), T32 DC005359 (Ellis Weismer), F31 DC013485 (Haebig), P30 HD03352 (Mailick).

Author Contributions

EH participated in the design and programming of the study, data collection, data analysis, and drafted the manuscript. MK conceived of the study, contributed to the design of the study, and helped to draft the manuscript. SEW conceived of the study, participated in the coordination of the study, interpretation of the data, and drafting of the manuscript. MK and SEW also wrote the grant application funding this research, which proposed the lexical decision task as part of a broader investigation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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  1. Eileen Haebig

    Present address: Purdue University, Lyles-Porter Hall, 715 Clinic Drive Room 3121, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

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  1. University of Wisconsin, 1500 Highland Avenue Room 449, Madison, WI, 53705, USA

    Eileen Haebig

  2. University of Wisconsin, 1500 Highland Avenue Room 487, Madison, WI, 53705, USA

    Margarita Kaushanskaya

  3. University of Wisconsin, 1500 Highland Avenue Room 473, Madison, WI, 53705, USA

    Susan Ellis Weismer

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Haebig, E., Kaushanskaya, M. & Ellis Weismer, S. Lexical Processing in School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Role of Semantics. J Autism Dev Disord 45, 4109–4123 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2534-2

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