Part of
Intonational Grammar in Ibero-Romance: Approaches across linguistic subfieldsEdited by Meghan E. Armstrong, Nicholas Henriksen and Maria del Mar Vanrell
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 6] 2016
► pp. 277–294
Edited by Meghan E. Armstrong, Nicholas Henriksen and Maria del Mar Vanrell
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 6] 2016
► pp. 277–294
Prosody in Portuguese Children with HighFunctioning Autism
There is a lack of research investigating prosody in Portuguese children with autism. In this chapter, we analyze 15 Portuguese children aged 5–9 years with high-functioning autism (HFA) in comparison to their typically developing peers. We also evaluated nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary, phonological awareness, pragmatics, attention, and executive functions. Statistical analyses, using pairwise matching of nonverbal intelligence and chronological age, suggested that children with HFA have difficulties perceiving and imitating prosodic patterns, as well as difficulties understanding or effectively producing some of the communicative functions conveyed by prosody. Findings suggested a significant positive correlation between prosody and other language domains. Additionally, two case studies were conducted to further discuss the prosodic impairments.
Keywords: autism, high-functioning autism, Portuguese, prosodic impairments, prosody
References
American Psychiatric Association
(2013) Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing. 
Baltaxe, C
(1984) Use of contrastive stress in normal, aphasic and autistic children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 97-105.
Baltaxe, C., & Simmons, J.Q
(1985) Prosodic development in normal and autistic children. In E. Schopler & G.B. Mesibov (Eds.), Communication problems in autism(pp. 95-125). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Baron-Cohen, S., & Staunton, R
(1994) Do children with autism acquire the phonology of their peers? An examination of group identification through the window of bilingualism. First Language, 14, 241-248.
Bonneh, Y.S., Levanon, Y., Dean-Pardo, O., Lossos, L., & Adini, Y
(2011) Abnormal speech spectrum and increased pitch variability in young autistic children. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 4, 237.
Christophe, A., Millotte, S., Bernal, S., & Lidz, J
(2008) Bootstrapping lexical and syntactic acquisition. Language and Speech, 51(1-2), 61-75.
Diehl, J.J., & Berkovits, L
(2010) Is prosody a diagnostic and cognitive bellwether of autism spectrum disorders? In A. Harrison (Ed.), Speech disorders: Causes, treatments, and social effects (pp. 159-176). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.
Diehl, J.J., Watson, D., Bennetto, L., McDonough J., & Gunlogson, C
(2009) An acoustic analysis of prosody in high-functioning autism. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(3), 385-404.
Dunn, D.M., & Dunn, L.M
(2007) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (4th ed., manual). Minneapolis, MN: NCS Pearson.
Fay, W., & Schuler, A.L
(1980) Emerging language in autistic children. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
Filipe, M.G., & Vicente S.G
(2011) Teste de competências prosódicas para falantes do Português Europeu [A test of prosodic abilities for European Portuguese speakers]. In A.S. Ferreira, A. Verhaeghe, D.R. Silva, L.S. Almeida, R. Lima, & S. Fraga (Eds.), Proceedings of the VIII Iberoamerican Congress of Psychological Assessment (pp. 447-463). Lisbon, Portugal: Sociedade Portuguesa de Psicologia. Retrieved from [URL]
Frith, U
(1991) Autism and Asperger syndrome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Frota, S
(2000) Prosody and focus in European Portuguese: Phonological phrasing and intonation. New York, NY: Garland.
(2014) The intonational phonology of European Portuguese. In S-A. Jun (Ed.), Prosodic typology II(pp. 6-42). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frota, S., & Vigário, M
(2001) On the correlates of rhythmic distinctions: The European/Brazilian Portuguese case. Probus, 13(2), 247-273.
Gioia, G.A., Isquith, P.K., Guy, S.C., & Kenworthy, L
(2000) Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Green, H., & Tobin, Y
(2009) Prosodic analysis is difficult. . but worth it: A study in high functioning autism. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(4), 308-315. DOI :
Höhle, B
(2009) Bootstrapping mechanisms in first language acquisition. Linguistics, 47(2), 359-382.
Jarrold, C., Boucher, J., & Russell, J
(1997) Language profiles in children with autism: Theoretical and methodological implications. Autism, 1, 57-76.
Järvinen-Pasley, A., Peppé, S., King-Smith, G., & Heaton, P
(2008) The relationship between form and function level receptive prosodic abilities in autism. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 38(7), 1328-1340.
Johnson, E.K., & Jusczyk, P.W
(2001) Word segmentation by 8-month-olds: When speech cues count more than statistics. Journal of Memory and Language, 44(4), 548-567.
Jones, C.R.G., Pickles, A., Falcaro, M., Marsden, A.J.S., Happé, F., Scott, S.K., … Charman, T
(2011) A multimodal approach to emotion recognition ability in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(3), 275-285.
Kanner, L
(1943) Autistic disturbances of affective contact. Nervous Child, 2, 217-250.
Kjelgaard, M.A., & Tager-Flusberg, H
(2001) An investigation of language profiles in autism: Implications for genetic subgroups. Language and Cognitive Processes, 15, 1-22.
Kurita, H
(1985) Infantile autism with speech loss before the age of 30 months. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24(2), 191-196.
Ladd, D.R
(2008) Intonational phonology (2nd ed., Vol. 119). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Llorente, A.M., Williams, J., Satz, P., & D`Elia, L.F
(2003) Children’s Color Trails Test: Professional manual. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Lord, C., & Paul, R
(1997) Language and communication in autism. In D.J. Cohen &F.R. Volkmar (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive development disorders (2nd ed., pp. 195-225). New York, NY: John Wiley.
Lord, C., Rutter, M.L., Goode, S., Heemsbergen, J., Jordan, H., Mawhood, L., & Schopler, E
(1989) Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule: A standardized observation of communicative and social behavior. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 19(2), 185-212.
Lord, C., Rutter, M.L., & Le Couteur, A
(1994) The Autism Diagnostic Interview—Revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24(5), 659-685.
Loveland, K., Landry, S., Hughes, S., Hall, S., & McEvoy, R
(1988) Speech acts and the pragmatic deficits of autism. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 31, 593-604.
Luiz, D.M, Barnard, A., Knoesen, M.P., Kotras, N., Horrocks S., McAlinden, P., Challis, D., & O’Connell, R
(2007) Escala de Desenvolvimento Mental de Griffiths — Extensão Revista (Revisão de 2006) dos 2 aos 8 anos: Manual de Administração [Griffiths Mental Development Scales-Extended Revised (Revision 2006) from 2 to 8 years: Administration Guide]. Lisbon, Portugal: Cegoc-Tea.
McCann, J., & Peppé, S
(2003) Prosody in autism spectrum disorders: A critical review. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 38(4), 325-350.
McCann, J., Peppé, S., Gibbon, F., O’Hare, A., & Rutherford, M
(2007) Prosody and its relationship to language in school-aged children with high-functioning autism. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42(6), 682-702.
Morgan, J.L., & Demuth, K
(1996) Signal to syntax: An overview. InJ.L. Morgan &K. Demuth (Eds.), Signal to syntax: Bootstrapping from speech to grammar in early acquisition (pp. 1-22). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nadig, A., & Shaw H
(2012) Acoustic and perceptual measurement of expressive prosody in high-functioning autism: Increased pitch range and what it means to listeners. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 42(4), 499-511.
Paul, R., Augustyn, A., Klin, A., & Volkmark, F.R
(2005) Perception and production of prosody by speakers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 35(2), 205-220.
Paul, R., Orlovski, S.M., Marcinko, H.C., & Volkmar, F.R
(2009) Conversational behaviors in youth with high-functioning ASD and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(1), 115-125.
Peppé, S
(1998) Investigating linguistic prosodic ability in adult speakers of English. Unpublished PhD dissertation. University College London, London.
Peppé, S., & McCann, J
(2003) Assessing intonation and prosody in children with atypical language development: The PEPS-C test and the revised version. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 17(4/5), 345-354.
Peppé, S., McCann, J., Gibbon, J., O’Hare, A., & Rutherford, M
(2007) Receptive and expressive prosodic ability in children with high-functioning autism. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 1015-1028.
Prieto, P., Estrella, A., Thorson, J., & Vanrell, M.M
(2012) Is prosodic development correlated with grammatical development? Evidence from emerging intonation in Catalan and Spanish. Journal of Child Language, 39(2), 221-257.
Prutting C., & Kirchner, D
(1987) A clinical appraisal of the pragmatic aspects of language. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders, 52, 105-119.
Rajendran, G., & Mitchell, P
(2007) Cognitive theories of autism. Developmental Review, 27, 224-260.
Raven, J.C
(1995) Manual for the Coloured Progressive Matrices(Revised). Windsor, UK: NFRE-Nelson.
Rice, M.L., Warren, S.F., & Betz, S.K
(2005) Language symptoms of developmental language disorders: An overview of autism, Down syndrome, fragile X, specific language impairment, and Williams syndrome. Applied Psycholinguistics, 26, 7-27.
Rutherford, M.D., Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S
(2002) Reading the mind in the voice: A study with normal adults and adults with Asperger syndrome and high functioning autism. Journal of Autism Developmental Disorders, 32(3), 189-194.
Schreibman, L., Kohlenberg, B.S., & Britten, K.R
(1986) Differential responding to content and intonation components of a complex auditory stimulus by nonverbal and echolalic autistic children. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 6, 109-125.
Sharda, M., Subhadra, T.P., Sahay, S., Nagaraja, C., Singh, L., Mishra, R., … Nandini C.S
(2010) Sounds of melody—pitch patterns of speech in autism. Neuroscience Letters, 478(1), 42-45.
Shriberg, L.D., Paul, R., McSweeny, J.L., Klin, A., Cohen, D.J., & Volkmar, F.R
(2001) Speech and prosody characteristics of adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44, 1097-1115.
Simões, M
(2000) Investigações no âmbito da Aferição Nacional do Teste das Matrizes Progressivas Coloridas de Raven (M.P.C.R). Lisbon, Portugal: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian & Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.
Stone, W.L., & Caro-Martinez, L.M
(1990) Naturalistic observations of spontaneous communication in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 20, 437-453.
Sucena, A., & Castro, S.L
(2012) ALEPE - Avaliação da Leitura em Português Europeu [ALEPE. Assessment of Reading Skills in European Portuguese]. Lisbon, Portugal: CEGOC-TEA.
Tager-Flusberg, H
(1981) Sentence comprehension in autistic children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 2, 5-24.
(1993) What language reveals about the understanding of minds in children with autism. In S. Baron-Cohen, H. Tager-Flusberg, & D.J. Cohen (Eds.), Understanding other minds: Perspectives from autism (pp. 138-157). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(1996) Current theory and research on language and communication in autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 26, 169-172.
(2003) Language impairment in children with complex neurodevelopmental disorders: The case of autism. In Y. Levy &J. Schaeffer (Eds.), Language competence across populations (pp. 297-321). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C
(2005) Communication in autism. In F. Volkmar,A. Klin, R. Paul, &D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders (3rd ed., pp. 335- 364). New York, NY: Wiley & Sons.
Teles, S., & Vicente, S.G
(2011) Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF): European Portuguese - Short Parental Version [working research version constructed based on the BRIEF of Gioia, Isquith, Guy, & Kenworthy, 2000]. Unpublished Material, Centre of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Thiessen, E.D., & Saffran, J.R
(2003) When cues collide: Use of statistical and stress cues to word boundaries by 7- and 9-month-old infants. Developmental Psychology, 39, 706-716.
Van Lancker, D., Cornelius, C., & Kreiman, J
(1989) Recognition of emotional-prosodic meanings in speech by autistic, schizophrenic, and normal children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 5, 207-226.
Vicente, S.G., Sousa, A.S., & Silva, M.A
(2011) European Portuguese material for receptive vocabulary assessment [working research version constructed based on the PPVT-4 (Form B) of Dunn, & Dunn, 2007]. Unpublished Material, Centre of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.
Wells, B., Peppé, S., & Goulandris, A
(2004) Intonation development from five to thirteen. Journal of Child Language, 31, 749-778.
Wilkinson, K.M
(1998) Profiles of language and communication in autism. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 4, 73-79.
Young, E.C., Diehl, J.J., Morris, D., Hyman, S.L., & Bennetto, L
(2005) The use of two language tests to distinguish pragmatic language problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 62-72.