Prosody and autism.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This chapter focuses on prosodic processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). An overview of key studies linking prosodic difficulties with ASD is provided. Methods reviewed include behavioural assessment, acoustic analyses, electrophysiological measures, and brain imaging. It is difficult to draw strong conclusions from previous research as there has been little consistency across studies in terms of the types of prosody that were examined, whether or not both comprehension and production of prosody were investigated, and the nature and size of the samples that were assessed. There is consensus that only some individuals with ASD experience problems with prosody. Importantly, different types of prosodic impairment have been observed across individuals with ASD and it seems likely that these are associated with different causal mechanisms. Some possible mechanisms underpinning prosodic impairment that have been put forward over the years include a cognitive deficit relating to Theory of Mind, motor speech impairment, lack of social motivation to align one’s speech with others, atypical audio-vocal regulation, and deficient pitch encoding. Future research endeavours should include increased effort to pinpoint causal mechanisms and explore targeted remediation of prosodic difficulties in individuals with ASD.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCommunication in Autism
EditorsJoanne Arciuli, Jon Brock
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Chapter5
Pages103-122
Number of pages20
Volume11
ISBN (Electronic)9789027270320
ISBN (Print)9789027244000
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Oct 2014
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameTrends in Language Acquisition Research
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Volume11
ISSN (Print)1569-0644

Keywords

  • Autism
  • prosodic processing
  • behavioural assessment
  • acoustic analyses

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