title: Palm reversal errors in native-signing children with autism.
abstract: Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have native exposure to a sign language such as American Sign Language (ASL) have received almost no scientific attention. This paper reports the first studies on a sample of five native-signing children (four deaf children of deaf parents and one hearing child of deaf parents; ages 4;6 to 7;5) diagnosed with ASD. A domain-general deficit in the ability of children with ASD to replicate the gestures of others is hypothesized to be a source of palm orientation reversal errors in sign. In Study 1, naturalistic language samples were collected from three native-signing children with ASD and were analyzed for errors in handshape, location, movement and palm orientation. In Study 2, four native-signing children with ASD were compared to 12 typically developing deaf children (ages 3;7 to 6;9, all born to deaf parents) on a fingerspelling task. In both studies children with ASD showed a tendency to reverse palm orientation on signs specified for inward/outward orientation. Typically developing deaf children did not produce any such errors in palm orientation. We conclude that this kind of palm reversal has a perceptual rather than a motoric source, and is further evidence of a "self-other mapping" deficit in ASD.
authors.affiliation: The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Linguistics, 1 University Station B5100, Austin, TX 78712-0198, USA. ashield@bu.edu
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shield
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Meier
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015897:Comorbidity; D003638:Deafness / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D005260:Female; D005868:Gestures; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D008297:Male; D019957:Motor Skills Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009949:Orientation; D012813:Sign Language; D056345:Theory of Mind