ERIC Number: EJ1252877
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020-May
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0162-3257
EISSN: N/A
Speaking the Same Language? A Preliminary Investigation, Comparing the Language and Communication Skills of Females and Males with High-Functioning Autism
Sturrock, Alexandra; Yau, Natalie; Freed, Jenny; Adams, Catherine
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, v50 n5 p1639-1656 May 2020
Understanding the nature of language and communication disorders in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD) populations may provide insight into why females are more likely than males to go undiagnosed. Language and communication skills were compared between 13 females and 13 males (aged 8.11-11.06) with HFASD. Gender-normative data was also ascertained from 26 typically developing children (TD) matched for age and gender. All children had typical range PIQ, slight variation here was controlled for in analysis. Results show females outperforming males in pragmatic and semantic tasks and in certain language-of-emotion tasks. TDs outperformed HFASDs in above-sentence level tasks, but not in basic vocabulary or sentence level tasks. This study highlights specific strengths/weaknesses in language and communication for female HFASD, which could aid more accurate identification of the female autistic phenotype. It indicates the need for larger follow up studies in this area.
Descriptors: Autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Gender Differences, Language Skills, Communication Skills, Preadolescents
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A