Associations and Dissociations among Phonological Processing Skills, Language Skills and Nonverbal Cognition in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of phonological processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as it pertains to their nonverbal cognitive and linguistic abilities. METHODS: Twenty-one participants between the ages of 9 and 21 years were administered a nonverbal cognitive assessment (Raven test), a language measure that requires receptive and expressive knowledge of semantics, syntax and morphology, as well as the integration across these language domains (CELF-4), and a measure of phonological processing (CTOPP). RESULTS: Results show that performance on nonword repetition (NWR) that reflects an aspect of phonological memory was significantly low, whereas performance on phoneme reversal, phoneme elision, blending words and memory for digits was within the normal range. Hierarchical regressions with age, nonverbal intelligence (Raven test) and receptive language (CELF) as predictors showed that for NWR and phoneme elision the receptive part of the CELF was the main significant -predictor, after controlling for age. For phoneme reversal and memory for digits, however, the Raven score was the significant predictor, suggesting that cognitive nonverbal ability is the main factor explaining variability in these tasks. CONCLUSIONS: A deficit in phonological memory characterizes individuals in the autistic population. This deficit may influence language acquisition in this population consistent with other populations of children with language impairments. Other tasks of phonological awareness, however, might be preserved especially when they do not involve memory for long phonological sequences and when the cognitive abilities are within the norm.

Content Words in Child-Directed Speech of Mothers Toward Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose Our study aimed to analyze the characteristics of content word usage in mother's child-directed speech ( CDS) toward children with autism spectrum disorder compared to mother's CDS toward typically developing children. Method We analyzed the lexical characteristics of CDS of mothers of children with autism (16 dyads) and compared them from a language developmental perspective to mothers of 20 typical children at the same level of expressive language development. Results Results suggest that mothers of children with autism use equal amounts of content words at the same language level, but the content consists of significantly more concrete nouns and active verbs and rarely the use of abstract nouns, stative verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Conclusion This study suggests that professionals and parents of children with autism should be aware of the importance of varying their language use of content words.

Improvement of Language in Children with Autism with Combined Donepezil and Choline Treatment.

The safety and efficacy of a novel combination treatment of AChE inhibitors and choline supplement was initiated and evaluated in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Safety and efficacy were evaluated on 60 children and adolescents with ASD during a 9-month randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comprising 12 weeks of treatment preceded by baseline evaluation, and followed by 6 months of washout, with subsequent follow-up evaluations. The primary exploratory measure was language, and secondary measures included core autism symptoms, sleep and behavior. Significant improvement was found in receptive language skills 6 months after the end of treatment as compared to placebo. The percentage of gastrointestinal disturbance reported as a side effect during treatment was higher in the treatment group as compared to placebo. The treatment effect was enhanced in the younger subgroup (younger than 10 years), occurred already at the end of the treatment phase, and was sustained at 6 months post treatment. No significant side effects were found in the younger subgroup. In the adolescent subgroup, no significant improvement was found, and irritability was reported statistically more often in the adolescent subgroup as compared to placebo. Combined treatment of donepezil hydrochloride with choline supplement demonstrates a sustainable effect on receptive language skills in children with ASD for 6 months after treatment, with a more significant effect in those under the age of 10 years.

Psychiatric and autistic comorbidity in fragile X syndrome across ages.

Fragile X syndrome is caused by CGG trinucleotide repeat expansion within the fragile X mental retardation 1 gene, when repeat number exceeds 200. The typical psychiatric profile of fragile X syndrome patients includes cognitive and behavioral deficits, psychiatric comorbidity, and autistic characteristics. Specific psychiatric features have not yet been clarified, specifically in relationship to age and genetic characteristics. The objective of this study was to characterize psychiatric comorbidities in subjects with fragile X syndrome at different ages. Subjects with fragile X syndrome and their unaffected siblings were recruited and their parents filled out functional-behavioral and psychiatric comorbidities questionnaires. Adolescents with fragile X syndrome showed decreased prevalence of functional-behavioral deficits. Incidence and severity of most psychiatric comorbidities were lower in older subjects. Incidence of generalized anxiety disorder increased with age in the fragile X syndrome group. The typical profile of patients with fragile X syndrome changes with age. Unaffected siblings exhibit anxiety and motor tics.