title: Profound expressive language impairment in low functioning children with autism: an investigation of syntactic awareness using a computerised learning task.
abstract: Nine low-functioning children with profound expressive language impairment and autism were studied in terms of their responsiveness to a computer-based learning program designed to assess syntactic awareness. The children learned to touch words on a screen in the correct sequence in order to see a corresponding animation, such as 'monkey flies'. The game progressed in levels from 2 to 4 word sequences, contingent upon success at each stage. Although performance was highly variable across participants, a detailed review of their learning profiles suggested that no child lacked syntactic awareness and that elementary syntactic control in a non-speech domain was superior to that manifest in their spoken language. The reasons for production failures at the level of speech in children with autism are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9QU, Scotland, UK. M.McGonigle@ed.ac.uk
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McGonigle-Chalmers
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Alderson-Day
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fleming
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Monsen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D007807:Language Tests; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests