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Language and Verbal Memory in Individuals with a History of Autism Spectrum Disorders Who Have Achieved Optimal Outcomes

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Abstract

Some individuals who lose their autism spectrum disorder diagnosis may continue to display subtle weaknesses in language. We examined language and verbal memory in 44 individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA), 34 individuals with “optimal outcomes” (OO) and 34 individuals with typical development (TD). The OO group scored in the average range or above on all measures and showed few differences from the TD group. The HFA group performed within the average range but showed significantly lower mean performance than the other groups on multiple language measures, even when controlling for verbal IQ. Results also indicate that OO individuals show strong language abilities in all areas tested, but that their language may show greater reliance on verbal memory.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the participants and their families, to Dr. Lynn Brennan and Harriet Levin for help with recruitment, to our invaluable undergraduate research assistants, and for our Grant funding: NIH R01 MH076189.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Katherine Tyson, Deborah Fein, Alyssa Orinstein, Eva Troyb, Marianne Barton, Inge-Marie Eigsti, Letitia Naigles & Molly Helt

  2. Department of Psychology, Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada

    Elizabeth Kelley

  3. Center for Autism Research, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Robert T. Schultz

  4. Institute of Living, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA

    Michael Stevens

  5. Child Mind Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Michael Rosenthal

  6. Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA

    Deborah Fein

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  1. Katherine Tyson
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  2. Elizabeth Kelley
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  12. Michael Rosenthal
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Correspondence to Katherine Tyson.

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Tyson, K., Kelley, E., Fein, D. et al. Language and Verbal Memory in Individuals with a History of Autism Spectrum Disorders Who Have Achieved Optimal Outcomes. J Autism Dev Disord 44, 648–663 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1921-9

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