Speech and Oral Discourse in a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Study of Spontaneous Bilingualism. Part II: Psycholinguistic Assessment

133

Abstract

Objectives. Pronounced disharmony in verbal communication development is considered a typical developmen­tal feature in infantile autism, however, its manifestations and mechanisms have not yet been studied enough; extremely little is known about the qualitative features of speech development and the psycholinguistic char­acteristics of the language abilities of such children. A dissociation between the semantic-pragmatic and struc­tural-functional components of language development has been reported; however, this feature has significant individual variability in different forms of autism. The aim of the current paper is to introduce a longitudinal study of the speech development in a child with autism accompanied by the phenomenon of spontaneous bilin­gualism in a monolingual family.

Methods. A case of a Lithuanian monolingual boy with early childhood autism is presented, who at the age of 4 years independently began to learn English, which resulted by the end of preschool age in the unbalanced bilingualism with a preference for L2. Longitudinal follow-up included 3 complex clinical examinations of the intellectual and language abilities (at 4, 6 and 8 years) and a psycholinguistic study of language skills in Lithuanian and English at the age of 7years. A battery of tests for assessing grammar, impressive and expres­sive vocabulary, and skills of personal discourse (story-telling and participating in dialogue-reasoning) was employed.

Results. In both languages, a deficiency in the pragmatic competence of story-telling and participating in dialogue-reasoning was revealed; however, lexical and grammatical errors occurred mainly in the native (Lithuanian) language. The study evidenced a deficit of verb expressive vocabulary, especially in Lithuanian language. Comprehension of complex grammatical constructions was impaired in the Lithuanian language to a greater extent than in English. To sum up, the results evidenced a partial compensation for the structural and functional impairment, but the persistence of a deficit in the pragmatics of speech.

Conclusions. The case study illustrates the special nature of speech development in a child with autism and a unique phenomenon of spontaneous bilingualism in a monolingual family.

General Information

Keywords: childhood autism, language acquisition, grammar impairment, vocabulary, linguistic pragmatics, oral discourse, narrative, spontaneous bilingualism

Journal rubric: Research of ASD

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/autdd.2023210203

Funding. The reported study was funded by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), project number 19-29-14078

Acknowledgements. The authors are grateful for assistance in data collection parents of the child studied

Received: 28.01.2023

Accepted:

For citation: Balciuniene I., Kornev A.N. Speech and Oral Discourse in a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Study of Spontaneous Bilingualism. Part II: Psycholinguistic Assessment. Autizm i narusheniya razvitiya = Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2023. Vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 15–24. DOI: 10.17759/autdd.2023210203. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

  1. Balčiūnienė I., Kornev A.N. Speech and Oral Discourse in a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Case Study of Spontaneous Bilingualism. Part I: Clinical and Anamnestic Evaluation. Autizm i narusheniya razvitiya = Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2023, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 68—75. DOI:10.17759/autdd.2023210108
  2. Kornev A.N. Osnovy logopatologii detskogo vozrasta: klinicheskie i psikhologicheskie aspekty [Basics of speech pathology in childhood: clinical and psychological aspects]. Saint Petersburg: Publ. Rech’, 2006. 380 p. ISBN 5-9268-0412-4
  3. Allen D.A., Rapin I. Language disorders in preschool children: Predictors of outcome: a preliminary report. Brain & Development, 1980, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 73—80. DOI:10.1016/S0387-7604(80)80010-6
  4. Armon-Lotem S., Haman E., de López K.J. et al. A large-scale cross-linguistic investigation of the acquisition of passive. Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics, 2016, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 27—56. DOI:10.1080/10489223.2 015.1047095
  5. Armon-Lotem S., de Jong J., Meir N. (eds.). Assessing Multilingual Children: Disentangling Bilingualism from Language Impairment. Bristol: Publ. Multilingual Matters, 2015. 364 p. ISBN 978-1-78309-312-0. DOI:10.21832/9781783093137
  6. Balčiūnienė I. Lithuanian narrative language at preschool age. Eesti Rakenduslingvistika Ühingu aastaraamat = Estonian Papers in Applied Linguistics, 2012, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 21—36. DOI:10.5128/ERYa8.02
  7. Boucher J. Research Review: Structural language in autistic spectrum disorder — characteristics and causes. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2012, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 219—233. DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02508.x
  8. Digard B.G., Sorace A., Stanfield A. et al. Bilingualism in autism: Language learning profiles and social experiences. Autism, 2020, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 2166—2177. DOI:10.1177/1362361320937845
  9. Drysdale H., van der Meer L., Kagohara D. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from Bilingual Families: a Systematic Review. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2015, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 26—38. DOI:10.1007/ S40489-014-0032-7
  10. Gardner H., Froud K., McClelland A. et al. Development of the Grammar and Phonology Screening (GAPS) test to assess key markers of specific language and literacy difficulties in young children. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 2006, vol. 41, no. 5, pp. 513—540. DOI:10.1080/13682820500442644
  11. Georgiou N., Spanoudis G. Developmental Language Disorder and Autism: Commonalities and Differences on Language. Brain Sciences, 2021, vol. 11, no. 5, article no. 589. 29 p. DOI:10.3390/brainsci11050589
  12. Happé F., Frith U. The Weak Coherence Account: Detail-focused Cognitive Style in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2006, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 5—25. DOI:10.1007/s10803-005-0039-0
  13. Hickmann M. Children’s Discourse: Person, Space and Time across Languages. Cambridge: Publ. Cambridge University Press, 2003. 392 p. ISBN 0-522-58441-8.
  14. Kamandulytė-Merfeldienė L., Fürst B., Dressler W.U., Sauerland U. On the acquisition of adjective gradation in Lithuanian and German. Darbai ir dienos = Days and Deeds, 2010, no. 54, pp. 267—276. DOI:10.7220/2335-8769.54.21
  15. Kornev A.N., Balčiūnienė I. Word Structure in Typically Developing and Primarily Language- Impaired Children: A Usage- Based Corpus Analysis of Russian Preschoolers // On Under-Reported Monolingual Child Phonology / Ed. E. Babatsouli. Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2020. Pp. 201—228. ISBN 978-1-78892-894-6. DOI:10.21832/9781788928953-013
  16. Paul R. Communication and its development in autism spectrum disorders // Volkmar F.R. (ed.) Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders. Cambridge: Publ. Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. 129—155. ISBN 978-0-521-54957-8. DOI:10.1017/CBO9780511544446.005
  17. Rapin I., Dunn M. Update on the Language Disorders of Individuals on the Autistic Spectrum. Brain & Development, 2003, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 166—172. DOI:10.1016/s0387-7604(02)00191-2
  18. Ruzaitė J., Dabašinskienė I. Specific language impairment: Adaptation of a screening test for Lithuanian. Darbai ir dienos = Days and Deeds, 2010, no. 54, pp. 276—300.
  19. Sauerland U., Grohmann K.K., Guasti M.T. et al. How do 5-year-olds understand questions? Differences in languages across Europe. First Language, 2016, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 169—202. DOI:10.1177/0142723716640236
  20. Schaeffer J., Abd El-Raziq M., Castroviejo E. et al. Language in autism: domains, profiles and co-occurring conditions. Journal of Neural Transmission, 2023, vol. 130, pp. 433—457. DOI:10.1007/s00702-023-02592-y
  21. Tager-Flusberg H. Defining language impairments in a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder. Science China Life Sciences, 2015, vol. 58, no. 10, pp. 1044—1052. DOI:10.1007/s11427-012-4297-8
  22. Westerveld M.F., Filiatrault-Veilleux P., Paynter J. Inferential narrative comprehension ability of young school-age children on the autism spectrum. Autism and Developmental Language Impairments, 2021, vol. 6. 13 p. DOI:10.1177/23969415211035666
  23. Westerveld M. F., Paynter J., Adams D. Brief report: Associations between autism characteristics, written and spoken communication skills, and social interaction skills in preschool-age children on the autism spectrum. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2021, vol. 51, no. 12, pp. 4692—4697. DOI:10.1007/s10803-021-04889-x
  24. Westerveld M.F., Roberts J.M.A. The Oral Narrative Comprehension and Production Abilities of Verbal Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 2017, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 260—272. DOI:10.1044/2017_LSHSS-17-0003
  25. Zhukova M.A., Talantseva O.I., An I. et al. Brief Report: Unexpected Bilingualism: A Case of a Russian Child With ASD. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2023, vol. 53, no. 5, pp. 2153—2160. DOI:10.1007/s10803-021-05161-y

Information About the Authors

Ingrida Balciuniene, PhD, Associated Professor, Department of Logopathology, Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, Associated Professor, Department of Logopathology, , St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8307-1108, e-mail: ingrimi@gmail.com

Alexander N. Kornev, Doctor of Psychology, PhD in Medicine, Professor, Head of the Department of Logopathology, Head of the Laboratory of Neurocognitive Technologies, Saint Petersburg State Academy of Pediatric Medicine, Teacher at the Institute of Practical Psychology "Imaton", St.Petersburg, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6406-1238, e-mail: k1949@yandex.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 344
Previous month: 11
Current month: 2

Downloads

Total: 133
Previous month: 2
Current month: 1