Are minimally verbal autistic children's modality and form of communication associated with parent responsivity?

Prior work examined how minimally verbal (MV) children with autism used their gestural communication during social interactions. However, interactions are exchanges between social partners. Examining parent-child social interactions is critically important given the influence of parent responsivity on children's communicative development. Specifically, parent responses that are semantically contingent to the child's communication plays an important role in further shaping children's language learning. This study examines whether MV autistic children's (N = 47; 48-95 months; 10 females) modality and form of communication are associated with parent responsivity during an in-home parent-child interaction (PCI). The PCI was collected using natural language sampling methods and coded for child modality and form of communication and parent responses. Findings from Kruskal-Wallis H tests revealed that there was no significant difference in parent semantically contingent responses based on child communication modality (spoken language, gesture, gesture-speech combinations, and AAC) and form of communication (precise vs. imprecise). Findings highlight the importance of examining multiple modalities and forms of communication in MV children with autism to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of their communication abilities; and underscore the inclusion of interactionist models of communication to examine children's input on parent responses in further shaping language learning experiences.

Morphological and conceptual influences on the real-time comprehension of optional plural marked sentences in Yucatec Maya.

Introduction: Psycholinguistic research often focuses on Indo-European and other commonly studied major languages, while typologically diverse languages remain understudied. In this paper, we examine the morphological and conceptual influences on the real-time comprehension of optional plural-marked sentences in Yucatec Maya, an indigenous language of Mexico with a less commonly studied optional plural marking system. Methods: Fifty-one speakers of Yucatec Maya participated in a picture-sentence matching experiment carried out in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Pictures of one, two, or seven humans or animals depicting an intransitive action (conceptual number) were paired with auditorily presented sentences that had no plural marking, one plural, or two plurals (morphological number). Participants indicated by key press whether the picture and the sentence were an acceptable match, and decision time was recorded. Results: In the analysis of decision (yes versus no) and accuracy, morphological and conceptual factors interacted. In the analysis of decision time, however, morphological plural marking, but not conceptual number, led to faster decisions. Discussion: In light of previous work on the role of conceptual factors in the computation of number agreement, the interaction between conceptual and morphological factors suggests that a language with optional plural marking (or low "morphological richness") is associated with high conceptual influence on sentence comprehension. Importantly, the results of this study expand the empirical base of language types that have been investigated using psycholinguistic methods.

The Role of the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in the Production and Comprehension of Phonologically and Semantically Related Words.

Previous studies suggest that producing and comprehending semantically related words relies on inhibitory control over competitive lexical selection which results in the recruitment of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Few studies, however, have examined the involvement of other regions of the frontal cortex, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), despite its role in cognitive control related to lexical processing. The primary objective of this study was to elucidate the role of the DLPFC in the production and comprehension of semantically and phonologically related words in blocked cyclic naming and picture-word matching paradigms. Twenty-one adults participated in neuroimaging with functional near-infrared spectroscopy to measure changes in oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentrations across the bilateral frontal cortex during blocked cyclic picture naming and blocked cyclic picture-word-matching tasks. After preprocessing, oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin concentrations were obtained for each task (production, comprehension), condition (semantic, phonological) and region (DLPFC, IFG). The results of pairwise t-tests adjusted for multiple comparisons showed significant increases in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration over baseline in the bilateral DLPFC during picture naming for phonologically related words. For picture-word matching, we found significant increases in oxygenated hemoglobin concentration over baseline in the right DLPFC for semantically related words and in the right IFG for phonologically related words. We discuss the results in light of the inhibitory attentional control over competitive lexical access theory in contrast to alternative potential explanations for the findings.

Lexical and Morphosyntactic Profiles of Autistic Youth With Minimal or Low Spoken Language Skills.

PURPOSE: Autistic youth who are minimally or low verbal are underrepresented in research leaving little to no evidence base for supporting them and their families. To date, few studies have examined the types of words and word combinations these individuals use. The purpose of this study was to take a strengths-based approach to outline descriptive profiles of autistic youth who use few words and elucidate the lexical and morphosyntactic features of their spoken language. METHOD: We analyzed language samples from 49 autistic youth ages 6-21 years who used fewer than 200 words. Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts was used to investigate the relationship between number of different words (NDW) and proportion of nouns and verbs (vs. other word classes), mean length of utterance in morphemes (MLUm), and the frequency of early developing morphosyntactic structures. We used linear regression to quantify the relationship between NDW and lexical and morphosyntactic features. RESULTS: Proportion of nouns and verbs produced did not increase significantly in those with higher NDW. Conversely, MLUm and the frequency of early developing morphosyntactic structures increased significantly in those with higher NDW. CONCLUSIONS: Youth with higher NDW did not produce more nouns and verbs, suggesting lexical profiles that are not aligned with spoken vocabulary level. Youth with higher NDW had higher MLUm and more early morphosyntactic forms, suggesting that morphosyntactic profiles align with spoken vocabulary level. We discuss the implications for improving clinical services related to spoken language.

Fine motor skill and expressive language in minimally verbal and verbal school-aged autistic children.

Fine motor skill is associated with expressive language outcomes in infants who have an autistic sibling and in young autistic children. Fewer studies have focused on school-aged children even though around 80% have motor impairments and 30% remain minimally verbal (MV) into their school years. Moreover, expressive language is not a unitary construct, but it is made up of components such as speech production, structural language, and social-pragmatic language use. We used natural language sampling to investigate the relationship between fine motor and speech intelligibility, mean length of utterance and conversational turns in MV and verbal autistic children between the ages of 4 and 7 while controlling for age and adaptive behavior. Fine motor skill predicted speech production, measured by percent intelligible utterances. Fine motor skill and adaptive behavior predicted structural language, measured by mean length of utterance in morphemes. Adaptive behavior, but not fine motor skill, predicted social-pragmatic language use measured by number of conversational turns. Simple linear regressions by group corrected for multiple comparisons showed that fine motor skill predicted intelligibility for MV but not verbal children. Fine motor skill and adaptive behavior predicted mean length of utterance for both MV and verbal children. These findings suggest that future studies should explore whether MV children may benefit from interventions targeting fine motor along with speech and language into their school years.

Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in the Study of Speech and Language Impairment Across the Life Span: A Systematic Review.

Purpose Functional brain imaging is playing an increasingly important role in the diagnosis and treatment of communication disorders, yet many populations and settings are incompatible with functional magnetic resonance imaging and other commonly used techniques. We conducted a systematic review of neuroimaging studies using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) with individuals with speech or language impairment across the life span. We aimed to answer the following question: To what extent has fNIRS been used to investigate the neural correlates of speech-language impairment? Method This systematic review was preregistered with PROSPERO, the international prospective register of systematic reviews (CRD42019136464). We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol for preferred reporting items for systematic reviews. The database searches were conducted between February and March of 2019 with the following search terms: (a) fNIRS or functional near-infrared spectroscopy or NIRS or near-infrared spectroscopy, (b) speech or language, and (c) disorder or impairment or delay. Results We found 34 fNIRS studies that involved individuals with speech or language impairment across nine categories: (a) autism spectrum disorders; (b) developmental speech and language disorders; (c) cochlear implantation and deafness; (d) dementia, dementia of the Alzheimer's type, and mild cognitive impairment; (e) locked-in syndrome; (f) neurologic speech disorders/dysarthria; (g) stroke/aphasia; (h) stuttering; and (i) traumatic brain injury. Conclusions Though it is not without inherent challenges, fNIRS may have advantages over other neuroimaging techniques in the areas of speech and language impairment. fNIRS has clinical applications that may lead to improved early and differential diagnosis, increase our understanding of response to treatment, improve neuroprosthetic functioning, and advance neurofeedback.