title: Person-centred (deictic) expressions and autism.
abstract: We employed semi-structured tests to determine whether children with autism produce and comprehend deictic (person-centred) expressions such as 'this'/'that', 'here'/'there' and 'come'/'go', and whether they understand atypical non-verbal gestural deixis in the form of directed head-nods to indicate location. In Study 1, most participants spontaneously produced deictic terms, often in conjunction with pointing. Yet only among children with autism were there participants who referred to a location that was distal to themselves with the terms 'this' or 'here', or made atypical points with unusual precision, often lining-up with an eye. In Study 2, participants with autism were less accurate in responding to instructions involving contrastive deictic terms, and fewer responded accurately to indicative head nods.
authors.affiliation: Tavistock Clinic, 120 Belsize Lane, London, UK. r.hobson@ucl.ac.uk
authors.forename: R Peter
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Hobson
authors.forename: Rosa M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: García-Pérez
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003210:Concept Formation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D012660:Semantics; D013067:Speech Perception; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014796:Visual Perception