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Comparing the Pragmatic Speech Profiles of Minimally Verbal and Verbally Fluent Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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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.

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Notes

  1. All analyses described were also conducted parametrically controlling for age, IQ, receptive vocabulary ability, and similar results were found.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the members of the Center for Autism Research Excellence for their assistance with this project and our funding source, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (P50DC013027, RO1 DC011339, and RO1 DC01029003S1).

Funding

This study was supported by research Grants from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (P50DC013027, RO1 DC011339, and RO1 DC01029003S1).

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  1. Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Center for Autism Research Excellence, Boston University, 100 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, 02215, USA

    Chelsea La Valle, Daniela Plesa-Skwerer & Helen Tager-Flusberg

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  1. Chelsea La Valle
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CL participated in the study design, coding, statistical analyses, data interpretation, and drafted the manuscript; DPS participated in the study design and coordination, reliability coding, and revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content; HTF devised the study, participated in its design and interpretation of the data, and revised the manuscript critically for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chelsea La Valle.

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La Valle, C., Plesa-Skwerer, D. & Tager-Flusberg, H. Comparing the Pragmatic Speech Profiles of Minimally Verbal and Verbally Fluent Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 3699–3713 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04421-7

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