Chapter published in:

On the Acquisition of the Syntax of Romance
Edited by Anna Gavarró
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 62] 2018
► pp. 235–258

Sentence repetition and language impairment in French-speaking children with ASD

Silvia Silleresi | UMR 1253, Imagery and Brain (iBrain), Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours

Laurie Tuller | UMR 1253, Imagery and Brain (iBrain), Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours

Hélène Delage | Université de Genève

Stephanie Durrleman | Université de Genève

Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhault | UMR 1253, Imagery and Brain (iBrain), Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours

Joëlle Malvy | UMR 1253, Imagery and Brain (iBrain), Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours

Philippe Prévost | UMR 1253, Imagery and Brain (iBrain), Université de Tours, Inserm, Tours

This study investigates formal language abilities in French-speaking children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We report on the usefulness of the LITMUS-Sentence-Repetition-French task in distinguishing children with impaired language (ASD-LI) from children with normal language (ASD-LN). We examined complexity of syntactic computation, to determine whether children with ASD-LI behave analogously to children with SLI. Results showed that the ASD-LI group performed like the SLI group, while the ASD-LN group performed like the TD group. Despite the existence of a link between nonverbal IQ (NVIQ) and performance on SR, this correlation was not linear, due to the presence of children with each of the four formal language ability/NVIQ profiles, indicating the possible independence of formal language from nonverbal intelligence.

Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), cognitive profile and NVIQ, formal language, sentence repetition, Specific Language Impairment (SLI), autism severity

Published online: 12 December 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.62.11sil

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