Music has a universal ability to tap into our deepest emotions. Unfortunately, for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), understanding emotions is a very difficult task. Can music help them? Thanks to funding from the GRAMMY Foundation Grant Program, researchers at UCLA are about to find out.
Individuals with ASD have trouble recognizing emotions, particularly social emotions conveyed through facial expressions — a frown, a smirk or a smile. This inability can rob a child of the chance to communicate and socialize and often leads to social isolation.
In an innovative study led by Istvan Molnar-Szakacs, a researcher at the UCLA Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity, music will be used as a tool to explore the ability of children with ASD to identify emotions in musical excerpts and facial expressions.
"Music has long been known to touch autistic children," Molnar-Szakacs said. "Studies from the early days of autism research have already shown us that music provokes engagement and interest in kids with ASD. More recently, such things as musical memory and pitch abilities in children with ASD have been found to be as good as or better than in typically developing children."
In addition, he said, researchers have shown that because many children with ASD are naturally interested in music, they respond well to music-based therapy.
But no one has ever done a study to see if children with ASD process musical emotions and social emotions in the same way that typically developing children do.
In this study, Molnar-Szakacs will use "emotional music" to examine the brain regions involved in emotion processing.
"Our hypothesis is that if we are able to engage the brain region involved in emotion processing using emotional music, this will open the doorway for teaching children with ASD to better recognize emotions in social stimuli, such as facial expressions."
The overarching goal of the study, of course, is to gain insights about the causes of autism. Molnar-Szakacs will use neuroimaging — functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI — to look at and compare brain activity in ASD children with brain activity in typically developing kids while both groups are engaged in identifying emotions from faces and musical excerpts.
"The study should help us to better understand how the brain processes emotion in children with autism; that, in turn, will help us develop more optimal interventions," Molnar-Szakacs said. "Importantly, this study will also help us promote the use of music as a powerful tool for studying brain functions, from cognition to creativity."
Approximately 15 children with ASD, ranging in age from 10 to 13, will participate in the study, which is being conducted under the auspices of the Help Group–UCLA Autism Research Alliance. The alliance, directed by UCLA's Elizabeth Laugeson, is an innovative partnership between the nonprofit Help Group, which serves children with special needs related to autism, and the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, and is dedicated to enhancing and expanding ASD research. The project is also being conducted in collaboration with Katie Overy, co-director of the Institute for Music in Human and Social Development at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
"The hope, of course, is that this work will not only be of scientific value and interest, but most of all, that it will translate into real-life improvements in the quality of the children's lives," Molnar-Szakacs said.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Early Intervention Lessens Impact Of Autism
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Contrary to popular fears that half of autistic children will never speak, new findings by the University of Michigan show just 14 percent of autistic children are unable to talk by age 9 and 40 percent can speak fluently.
Early intervention leads to better treatment, said Catherine Lord, director of the U-M Autism and Communication Disorders Center. The center has been conducting a sweeping longitudinal study of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) that started when participants were age 2 and followed them over many years with most of that subject group now in their teens.
The number of children diagnosed with the disorder has increased tenfold over the past decade.
Lord, a nationally known pioneer in autism research, played a key role in learning how to properly diagnose 2-year-olds a decade ago and is making new gains diagnosing young children at the U-M center. She is confident the University's research will make it routine to diagnose autism for children just 18 months old and sometimes even younger.
While medications have helped with related conditions such as depression and hyperactivity, the best way to deal with autism is to intervene as early as possible to treat the condition, she said. Children who developed even some very simple speech skills prior to the first time they were evaluated at age 2 were far more likely to overcome the disorder that is now found in one out of every 200 children, she added.
"One third make incredible progress, with almost all children making real gains, even if they continue to have significant difficulties," Lord said. "About 5 percent of the children we have followed do not have symptoms of autism at age 9."
Another 10 percent are doing well but still have some mild social difficulties and or repetitive behaviors or interests. Another 10 percent clearly have behaviors associated with autism but are able to compensate enough to spend much of their time in mainstream activities and classes, she said. The rest do improve, but continue to have behaviors and difficulties associated with the ASD, according to Lord.
The center is also working on research showing autism "is very unlikely caused by a single gene," Lord said, adding that parents of a child with autism have only a 5 to 10 percent chance of having another child with autism. Having a fraternal twin with autism similarly gives the child the same odds of developing the disorder.
However, if one identical twin has autism, there is a 95 percent chance the other identical twin will develop ASD or a related disorder, Lord said.
Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. Autistic spectrum disorders impact the normal development of the brain processes related to social interaction and communication skills. Children and adults with autism typically have difficulties with verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction and leisure or play activities.
The center is conducting many studies and is especially looking for children aged 12-24 months old whose parents are concerned about possible ASD or related communication delays as well as children from families with two or more members have the disorder. A study of normal communication development from 12 to 24 months is also under way that should yield important information about the early stages of language development. For more information about participating in the research studies, call the center at (734) 936-8600.
Early intervention leads to better treatment, said Catherine Lord, director of the U-M Autism and Communication Disorders Center. The center has been conducting a sweeping longitudinal study of children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) that started when participants were age 2 and followed them over many years with most of that subject group now in their teens.
The number of children diagnosed with the disorder has increased tenfold over the past decade.
Lord, a nationally known pioneer in autism research, played a key role in learning how to properly diagnose 2-year-olds a decade ago and is making new gains diagnosing young children at the U-M center. She is confident the University's research will make it routine to diagnose autism for children just 18 months old and sometimes even younger.
While medications have helped with related conditions such as depression and hyperactivity, the best way to deal with autism is to intervene as early as possible to treat the condition, she said. Children who developed even some very simple speech skills prior to the first time they were evaluated at age 2 were far more likely to overcome the disorder that is now found in one out of every 200 children, she added.
"One third make incredible progress, with almost all children making real gains, even if they continue to have significant difficulties," Lord said. "About 5 percent of the children we have followed do not have symptoms of autism at age 9."
Another 10 percent are doing well but still have some mild social difficulties and or repetitive behaviors or interests. Another 10 percent clearly have behaviors associated with autism but are able to compensate enough to spend much of their time in mainstream activities and classes, she said. The rest do improve, but continue to have behaviors and difficulties associated with the ASD, according to Lord.
The center is also working on research showing autism "is very unlikely caused by a single gene," Lord said, adding that parents of a child with autism have only a 5 to 10 percent chance of having another child with autism. Having a fraternal twin with autism similarly gives the child the same odds of developing the disorder.
However, if one identical twin has autism, there is a 95 percent chance the other identical twin will develop ASD or a related disorder, Lord said.
Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. Autistic spectrum disorders impact the normal development of the brain processes related to social interaction and communication skills. Children and adults with autism typically have difficulties with verbal and non-verbal communication, social interaction and leisure or play activities.
The center is conducting many studies and is especially looking for children aged 12-24 months old whose parents are concerned about possible ASD or related communication delays as well as children from families with two or more members have the disorder. A study of normal communication development from 12 to 24 months is also under way that should yield important information about the early stages of language development. For more information about participating in the research studies, call the center at (734) 936-8600.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Couple Lives With Autism, Comfort of Each Other
Love Bloomed After Socializing Was Learned
By THEA TRACHTENBERG and LINDSAY GOLDWERT
Feb. 25, 2009
David Hamrick, 29, and Lindsey Nebeker, 27, look like a typical couple in love, but what's not apparent is how hard they've worked to be together.
A couple finds a connection despite both having autism.
Hamrick and Nebeker live together in a Jackson, Miss., apartment, yet they have separate bedrooms, eat meals apart and spend most of their time focused on their own interests.
This unusual setup is how Hamrick and Nebeker, who are both autistic, make their relationship work.
About 1.5 million people in the United States have autism, with varying degrees of severity. Many people with autism struggle with the most basic social interactions, so finding love may seem like an impossibility.
Hamrick and Nebeker are high-functioning but, since childhood, both have found it difficult to make friends and even harder to keep them.
"All of her socialization had to be learned, usually by hard experience," said Nebeker's father, Gordon Nebeker.
By THEA TRACHTENBERG and LINDSAY GOLDWERT
Feb. 25, 2009
David Hamrick, 29, and Lindsey Nebeker, 27, look like a typical couple in love, but what's not apparent is how hard they've worked to be together.
A couple finds a connection despite both having autism.
Hamrick and Nebeker live together in a Jackson, Miss., apartment, yet they have separate bedrooms, eat meals apart and spend most of their time focused on their own interests.
This unusual setup is how Hamrick and Nebeker, who are both autistic, make their relationship work.
About 1.5 million people in the United States have autism, with varying degrees of severity. Many people with autism struggle with the most basic social interactions, so finding love may seem like an impossibility.
Hamrick and Nebeker are high-functioning but, since childhood, both have found it difficult to make friends and even harder to keep them.
"All of her socialization had to be learned, usually by hard experience," said Nebeker's father, Gordon Nebeker.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Babies Who Don't Respond To Their Names May Be At Risk For Autism Or Other Disorders
Year-old babies who do not respond when their name is called may be more likely to be diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder or other developmental problem at age 2, making this simple test a potential early indicator for such conditions, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a theme issue on autism spectrum disorders.
Although as many as half of parents of children with autism report concerns about their child's developmental progress before the first birthday, the disorder is usually not diagnosed until age 3 or 4, according to background information in the article. "Earlier identification of autism offers the possibility of early intervention, which holds promise for improving outcomes in children with autism," the authors write. "This has motivated a growing body of research that aims to ascertain the earliest reliable indicators of autism."
Aparna S. Nadig, Ph.D., of the M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, and colleagues assessed the tendency of infants to respond when their names are called, which is "one of the most consistently documented behaviors in infancy that distinguishes children later diagnosed with autism from those with typical development or developmental delays," they write.
Infants whose older siblings had autism, and who were therefore at risk for autism, were compared with control infants who were not at high risk of developing the disorder. While each child sat at a table playing with a small toy, a researcher walked behind the child and called his or her name in a clear voice. If the child did not respond after 3 seconds, the name was called again up to twice. Fifty-five at-risk infants and 43 control infants completed this test at age 6 months, and 101 at-risk infants and 46 control infants were tested at age 12 months.
"At age 6 months, there was a non-significant trend for control infants to require a fewer number of calls to respond to name than infants at risk for autism," the authors write. "At age 12 months, 100 percent of the infants in the control group 'passed,' responding on the first or second name call, while 86 percent in the at-risk group did."
Forty-six at-risk infants and 25 control infants were followed up for two years; three-fourths of those who did not respond to their name at age 12 months were identified with developmental problems at age 2. A total of 89 percent of infants who did not have an autism spectrum disorder (including autism, Asperger's syndrome and related conditions all defined by deficits in language and social skills) and 94 percent of infants without any developmental delays at two years responded to their name on the first two calls at one year. Of the children who were later diagnosed with autism, half failed the test at one year, and of those who were identified as having any type of developmental delay, 39 percent failed the test.
"Thus, failure to respond to name at the well-child one-year check-up may be a useful indicator of children who would benefit from a more thorough developmental assessment," the authors write. "It will not, however, identify all children at risk for developmental problems."
"Since this task is easy to administer and score and takes few resources, it could be incorporated into well-child pediatric visits at 12 months of age," they conclude. "If a child fails to orient to name, particularly reliably over time, this child has a high likelihood of some type of developmental abnormality and should be referred for more frequent screening, comprehensive assessment and, if indicated, preventive early intervention."
Although as many as half of parents of children with autism report concerns about their child's developmental progress before the first birthday, the disorder is usually not diagnosed until age 3 or 4, according to background information in the article. "Earlier identification of autism offers the possibility of early intervention, which holds promise for improving outcomes in children with autism," the authors write. "This has motivated a growing body of research that aims to ascertain the earliest reliable indicators of autism."
Aparna S. Nadig, Ph.D., of the M.I.N.D. Institute, University of California Davis, Sacramento, and colleagues assessed the tendency of infants to respond when their names are called, which is "one of the most consistently documented behaviors in infancy that distinguishes children later diagnosed with autism from those with typical development or developmental delays," they write.
Infants whose older siblings had autism, and who were therefore at risk for autism, were compared with control infants who were not at high risk of developing the disorder. While each child sat at a table playing with a small toy, a researcher walked behind the child and called his or her name in a clear voice. If the child did not respond after 3 seconds, the name was called again up to twice. Fifty-five at-risk infants and 43 control infants completed this test at age 6 months, and 101 at-risk infants and 46 control infants were tested at age 12 months.
"At age 6 months, there was a non-significant trend for control infants to require a fewer number of calls to respond to name than infants at risk for autism," the authors write. "At age 12 months, 100 percent of the infants in the control group 'passed,' responding on the first or second name call, while 86 percent in the at-risk group did."
Forty-six at-risk infants and 25 control infants were followed up for two years; three-fourths of those who did not respond to their name at age 12 months were identified with developmental problems at age 2. A total of 89 percent of infants who did not have an autism spectrum disorder (including autism, Asperger's syndrome and related conditions all defined by deficits in language and social skills) and 94 percent of infants without any developmental delays at two years responded to their name on the first two calls at one year. Of the children who were later diagnosed with autism, half failed the test at one year, and of those who were identified as having any type of developmental delay, 39 percent failed the test.
"Thus, failure to respond to name at the well-child one-year check-up may be a useful indicator of children who would benefit from a more thorough developmental assessment," the authors write. "It will not, however, identify all children at risk for developmental problems."
"Since this task is easy to administer and score and takes few resources, it could be incorporated into well-child pediatric visits at 12 months of age," they conclude. "If a child fails to orient to name, particularly reliably over time, this child has a high likelihood of some type of developmental abnormality and should be referred for more frequent screening, comprehensive assessment and, if indicated, preventive early intervention."
Important Clue To Learning Deficit In Children With Autism
A study by researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute has discovered an important clue to why children with autism spectrum disorders have trouble imitating others: They spend less time looking at the faces of people who are modeling new skills.
The study was conducted using high-technology eye-tracking headgear and software that measures with precision the point at which a child is looking when learning a task. Researchers used an actor to demonstrate a task on a computer screen.
"We found that the children with autism focused on the demonstrator's action and looked at the demonstrator's face much less often than did typically developing children," said Giacomo Vivanti, a postdoctoral researcher at the M.I.N.D. Institute and the study's lead author. "The typically developing children may be looking at the demonstrator's face to check for information on what to do or how to respond appropriately, information that the children with autism are less inclined to seek. This is an important finding, because children with autism have difficulty learning from others. This might be one key to why that is so," Vivanti said.
Imitation plays an important role in how children learn, as well as in how people interact socially, said M.I.N.D. Institute researcher and senior study author Sally J. Rogers, who has been studying imitation impairment and autism for more than 20 years. "This is a trait we see as early as we can diagnose autism, and it's one of the traits that is present even in mildly impaired adults," Rogers said.
Impaired imitation leads to additional impairments in sharing emotions, pretend play, pragmatic communication and understanding the emotional states of others. For years, scientists thought that children with autism and related disorders had trouble with learning through imitation because they had poor motor skills or because they did not pay attention to the action being performed. The current study rules out these hypotheses.
"We now understand more about how this imitation deficit might be working and, after more study, we may actually be able to address it in a way that helps children with autism develop a more natural set of behaviors," said Rogers, a UC Davis professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
In the current study, which was published online in June and will appear in print in November in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 18 children aged 8 to 15 with high-functioning autism were carefully matched with a group of 13 typically developing children. While wearing special eye-tracking headgear, the children were shown video clips that ranged from seven to 19 seconds in length. After viewing each clip, the children performed the demonstrated action. The results confirm previous research that shows that children with autism have difficulty imitating tasks when compared to normally developing children. It also showed that children with autism paid just as much attention to the action being performed as the other children in the study, ruling out previous hypotheses about poor attention to the task.
"This finding is particularly important," Rogers said. "Now we can rule out this variable. We know these children are looking at the task."
Researchers also found that successful performance of a task by children with autism increases with the amount of time they study it but is not correlated with their basic motor skills, ruling out the possibility that it is a lack of motor ability causing the imitation effect.
Finally, the study showed that both groups of children shifted their attention from the action to the demonstrator's face, but the children with autism did this much less often.
According to Rogers, this finding suggests that imitation is not just about repeating an action, but understanding the reason for the action.
"That information is conveyed in our faces," she explained.
Rogers and Vivanti are continuing to try to understand how this difference in looking at faces affects more complex forms of learning and understanding.
"We are looking at how children look at emotions and intentions that are conveyed in a demonstrator's face and how looking at this information in faces or not looking at them may affect how they understand and imitate the observed actions," Vivanti said.
Based on these studies, Vivanti and Rogers hope to one day develop studies aimed at determining whether or not face-looking is an important part of the imitation process. "It could be that if people with autism could be better at reading emotion they might naturally start to imitate their models the way like other people do," Rogers said. "If it's about how people understand the information in a face, then it gives you a target for intervention."
The study was conducted using high-technology eye-tracking headgear and software that measures with precision the point at which a child is looking when learning a task. Researchers used an actor to demonstrate a task on a computer screen.
"We found that the children with autism focused on the demonstrator's action and looked at the demonstrator's face much less often than did typically developing children," said Giacomo Vivanti, a postdoctoral researcher at the M.I.N.D. Institute and the study's lead author. "The typically developing children may be looking at the demonstrator's face to check for information on what to do or how to respond appropriately, information that the children with autism are less inclined to seek. This is an important finding, because children with autism have difficulty learning from others. This might be one key to why that is so," Vivanti said.
Imitation plays an important role in how children learn, as well as in how people interact socially, said M.I.N.D. Institute researcher and senior study author Sally J. Rogers, who has been studying imitation impairment and autism for more than 20 years. "This is a trait we see as early as we can diagnose autism, and it's one of the traits that is present even in mildly impaired adults," Rogers said.
Impaired imitation leads to additional impairments in sharing emotions, pretend play, pragmatic communication and understanding the emotional states of others. For years, scientists thought that children with autism and related disorders had trouble with learning through imitation because they had poor motor skills or because they did not pay attention to the action being performed. The current study rules out these hypotheses.
"We now understand more about how this imitation deficit might be working and, after more study, we may actually be able to address it in a way that helps children with autism develop a more natural set of behaviors," said Rogers, a UC Davis professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
In the current study, which was published online in June and will appear in print in November in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 18 children aged 8 to 15 with high-functioning autism were carefully matched with a group of 13 typically developing children. While wearing special eye-tracking headgear, the children were shown video clips that ranged from seven to 19 seconds in length. After viewing each clip, the children performed the demonstrated action. The results confirm previous research that shows that children with autism have difficulty imitating tasks when compared to normally developing children. It also showed that children with autism paid just as much attention to the action being performed as the other children in the study, ruling out previous hypotheses about poor attention to the task.
"This finding is particularly important," Rogers said. "Now we can rule out this variable. We know these children are looking at the task."
Researchers also found that successful performance of a task by children with autism increases with the amount of time they study it but is not correlated with their basic motor skills, ruling out the possibility that it is a lack of motor ability causing the imitation effect.
Finally, the study showed that both groups of children shifted their attention from the action to the demonstrator's face, but the children with autism did this much less often.
According to Rogers, this finding suggests that imitation is not just about repeating an action, but understanding the reason for the action.
"That information is conveyed in our faces," she explained.
Rogers and Vivanti are continuing to try to understand how this difference in looking at faces affects more complex forms of learning and understanding.
"We are looking at how children look at emotions and intentions that are conveyed in a demonstrator's face and how looking at this information in faces or not looking at them may affect how they understand and imitate the observed actions," Vivanti said.
Based on these studies, Vivanti and Rogers hope to one day develop studies aimed at determining whether or not face-looking is an important part of the imitation process. "It could be that if people with autism could be better at reading emotion they might naturally start to imitate their models the way like other people do," Rogers said. "If it's about how people understand the information in a face, then it gives you a target for intervention."
Computer Game Helps Autistic Children Recognize Emotions
An interactive computer software program called FaceSay™ has been shown to improve the ability of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) to recognize faces, facial expressions and emotions, according to the results of a study conducted by psychologists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). FaceSay™, created by Symbionica L.L.C., features interactive games that let children with ASD practice recognizing the facial expressions of an avatar, or software “puppet.” Specifically, the computer games teach the children where to look for facial cues such as an eye gaze or a facial expression.
The study found that the children with Asperger Syndrome who used the FaceSay™ program made significant improvements in their ability to read facial expressions. The children with autism made less improvement. Children in both the autism and Asperger groups, however, both improved their ability to recognize emotions.
Specifically, the children with autism who used FaceSay™ averaged a mean score of 14.8 on a facial recognition test. The control group averaged 12.8. The children with Asperger Syndrome scored much higher with an average score of 18.4 compared to 15.4 by the control group.
On an emotion recognition skills test, the children with autism who used FaceSay™ scored an average of 6.53. The control group’s average score was 5.2. The children with Asperger Syndrome had a mean test score of 8.7 compared with the control group score of 6.79. UAB doctoral student Maria Hopkins, Ph.D., and UAB associate professor of psychology Fred Biasini, Ph.D., conducted the study.
Autism spectrum disorder includes a range of developmental disorders such as autism, Asperger Syndrome and other pervasive developmental disorders. Children with ASD often avoid eye contact with others, which prevents them from perceiving and understanding the emotions of others. Many have problems remembering faces.
Hopkins and Biasini tested 25 children with autism and 24 children with Asperger Syndrome. The children ranged in age from 6 to 15, with an average age of 10 years. The group consisted of 44 boys and five girls. The computer training sessions were held twice a week for at least six weeks for an average of 20 minutes each session. The software featured three interactive games.
Psychologists at UAB plan to conduct more studies to assess the longtime effects of the FaceSay™ intervention.
The study’s results were presented recently at a meeting of the Association for Psychological Science.
The study found that the children with Asperger Syndrome who used the FaceSay™ program made significant improvements in their ability to read facial expressions. The children with autism made less improvement. Children in both the autism and Asperger groups, however, both improved their ability to recognize emotions.
Specifically, the children with autism who used FaceSay™ averaged a mean score of 14.8 on a facial recognition test. The control group averaged 12.8. The children with Asperger Syndrome scored much higher with an average score of 18.4 compared to 15.4 by the control group.
On an emotion recognition skills test, the children with autism who used FaceSay™ scored an average of 6.53. The control group’s average score was 5.2. The children with Asperger Syndrome had a mean test score of 8.7 compared with the control group score of 6.79. UAB doctoral student Maria Hopkins, Ph.D., and UAB associate professor of psychology Fred Biasini, Ph.D., conducted the study.
Autism spectrum disorder includes a range of developmental disorders such as autism, Asperger Syndrome and other pervasive developmental disorders. Children with ASD often avoid eye contact with others, which prevents them from perceiving and understanding the emotions of others. Many have problems remembering faces.
Hopkins and Biasini tested 25 children with autism and 24 children with Asperger Syndrome. The children ranged in age from 6 to 15, with an average age of 10 years. The group consisted of 44 boys and five girls. The computer training sessions were held twice a week for at least six weeks for an average of 20 minutes each session. The software featured three interactive games.
Psychologists at UAB plan to conduct more studies to assess the longtime effects of the FaceSay™ intervention.
The study’s results were presented recently at a meeting of the Association for Psychological Science.
Surprising Language Abilities In Children With Autism
What began as an informal presentation by a clinical linguist to a group of philosophers, has led to some surprising discoveries about the communicative language abilities of people with autism.
Several years back, Robert Stainton, now a philosophy professor at The University of Western Ontario, attended a presentation by his long-time friend Jessica de Villiers, a clinical linguist now at the University of British Columbia. The topic was Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). De Villiers explained that many individuals with ASD have significant difficulties with what linguists call "pragmatics." That is, people with ASD often have difficulty using language appropriately in social situations. They do not make appropriate use of context or knowledge of what it would be "reasonable to say." Most glaringly, many speakers with ASD have immense trouble understanding metaphor, irony, sarcasm, and what might be intimated or presumed, but not stated.
Drawing on his philosophical training, however, Stainton noticed less-than-obvious pragmatic abilities at work in de Villiers' examples, which were drawn from transcripts of conversations with 42 speakers with ASD -- abilities that had been missed by clinicians.
Thus began research to more clearly understand and define the conversational abilities and challenges of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stainton and de Villiers' research, in collaboration with Peter Szatmari, a clinical psychiatrist at McMaster University, has shown that indeed, many individuals with ASD do have "a rich array of pragmatic abilities."
These researchers do not contest the well-established claim that people with ASD have difficulty with non-literal pragmatics, such as metaphors ("Juliet is the sun") or irony/sarcasm ("Boy, is that a good idea"). They have, however, found that many speakers with ASD do not show the same difficulty with literal pragmatics. An example is the phrase, "I took the subway north" from a transcript of a conversation with a research participant with ASD. The use of the word "the" could indicate there is only one subway in existence going north. "The subway" could also be referring to a subway car, a subway system or a subway tunnel. Taking account of the context and the listener's expectations, however, the individual using the phrase was able to convey the specific meaning he intended. That is, he used pragmatics effectively.
In short, Stainton and his colleagues produced surprising evidence to show that speakers with ASD use and understand pragmatics in cases of literal talk, as in the subway example.
Stainton, who is also Acting Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Western, says, "It is especially gratifying and encouraging, because this is an Arts and Humanities contribution to clinical research. Without a philosophical perspective, this discovery might not have been made."
Related research allowed de Villiers and Szatmari to develop a rating scale of pragmatic abilities that can be used in the clinical assessment of people with ASD. Stainton says, "In the short term, their new tool will help identify where an individual fits on that spectrum. In the longer term, however, by making use of recent results in philosophy of language, it may contribute to our theoretical understanding of the boundary between knowledge of the meanings of words, and non-linguistic abilities -- specifically pragmatics."
Stainton believes that both clinicians who work with people with ASD, and language theorists who are interested in pragmatics for philosophical reasons, will find these results striking.
ASD affects approximately one in 165 people. The results of the research, conducted from a study of 42 children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome, has been published in the journal, Midwest Studies in Philosophy.
Several years back, Robert Stainton, now a philosophy professor at The University of Western Ontario, attended a presentation by his long-time friend Jessica de Villiers, a clinical linguist now at the University of British Columbia. The topic was Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). De Villiers explained that many individuals with ASD have significant difficulties with what linguists call "pragmatics." That is, people with ASD often have difficulty using language appropriately in social situations. They do not make appropriate use of context or knowledge of what it would be "reasonable to say." Most glaringly, many speakers with ASD have immense trouble understanding metaphor, irony, sarcasm, and what might be intimated or presumed, but not stated.
Drawing on his philosophical training, however, Stainton noticed less-than-obvious pragmatic abilities at work in de Villiers' examples, which were drawn from transcripts of conversations with 42 speakers with ASD -- abilities that had been missed by clinicians.
Thus began research to more clearly understand and define the conversational abilities and challenges of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Stainton and de Villiers' research, in collaboration with Peter Szatmari, a clinical psychiatrist at McMaster University, has shown that indeed, many individuals with ASD do have "a rich array of pragmatic abilities."
These researchers do not contest the well-established claim that people with ASD have difficulty with non-literal pragmatics, such as metaphors ("Juliet is the sun") or irony/sarcasm ("Boy, is that a good idea"). They have, however, found that many speakers with ASD do not show the same difficulty with literal pragmatics. An example is the phrase, "I took the subway north" from a transcript of a conversation with a research participant with ASD. The use of the word "the" could indicate there is only one subway in existence going north. "The subway" could also be referring to a subway car, a subway system or a subway tunnel. Taking account of the context and the listener's expectations, however, the individual using the phrase was able to convey the specific meaning he intended. That is, he used pragmatics effectively.
In short, Stainton and his colleagues produced surprising evidence to show that speakers with ASD use and understand pragmatics in cases of literal talk, as in the subway example.
Stainton, who is also Acting Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Western, says, "It is especially gratifying and encouraging, because this is an Arts and Humanities contribution to clinical research. Without a philosophical perspective, this discovery might not have been made."
Related research allowed de Villiers and Szatmari to develop a rating scale of pragmatic abilities that can be used in the clinical assessment of people with ASD. Stainton says, "In the short term, their new tool will help identify where an individual fits on that spectrum. In the longer term, however, by making use of recent results in philosophy of language, it may contribute to our theoretical understanding of the boundary between knowledge of the meanings of words, and non-linguistic abilities -- specifically pragmatics."
Stainton believes that both clinicians who work with people with ASD, and language theorists who are interested in pragmatics for philosophical reasons, will find these results striking.
ASD affects approximately one in 165 people. The results of the research, conducted from a study of 42 children with autism and Asperger's Syndrome, has been published in the journal, Midwest Studies in Philosophy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
