title: Spontaneous narrative-discourse performance of parents of autistic individuals.
abstract: The spontaneous narrative-discourse performance of parents of autistic individuals was compared to controls. The narratives of autism parents were similar in length to controls' narratives but were less complex and less coherent. A subgroup of autism parents produced either skeletal or rambling narratives that were not characterized by the type of simplifications that are reported to facilitate comprehension in very young or language-impaired children. The narrative-discourse deficits of this subgroup appeared to be consistent with the hypothesis of a genetic liability for autism that expresses in milder forms and may include impaired language abilities.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Landa
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Folstein
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Isaacs
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents