Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T16:59:31.769Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Acoustic and perceptual measurements of prosody production on the profiling elements of prosodic systems in children by children with autism spectrum disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2011

JOSHUA JOHN DIEHL  and
RHEA PAUL
JOSHUA JOHN DIEHL*
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame and Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, CT
RHEA PAUL
Affiliation:
Yale University School of Medicine
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Joshua Diehl, Department of Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 118 Haggar Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556. E-mail: joshua.diehl@nd.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Prosody production atypicalities are a feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but behavioral measures of performance have failed to provide detail on the properties of these deficits. We used acoustic measures of prosody to compare children with ASDs to age-matched groups with learning disabilities and typically developing peers. Overall, the group with ASD had longer utterance durations on multiple subtests on a test of prosodic abilities, and both the ASD and learning disabilities groups had higher pitch ranges and pitch variance than the typically developing group on one subtest. Acoustic differences were present even when the prosody was used correctly. These findings represent differences in the fine details of the acoustic output beyond its functional interpretation in both clinical groups.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 135 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, text revision (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Baltaxe, C. A. M. (1984). Use of contrastive stress in normal, aphasic, and autistic children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 97–105.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S., & Staunton, R. (1995). Do children with autism acquire the phonology of their peers? An examination of group identification through the window of bilingualism. First Language, 14, 241–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2009). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer (version 5.1.20) [Computer program]. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.praat.org/Google Scholar
Catterall, C., Howard, S., Stojanovik, V., Szczerbinski, M., & Wells, B. (2006). Investigating prosodic ability in Williams syndrome. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 20, 531–538.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chevallier, C., Noveck, I., Happé, F., & Wilson, D. (2008). From acoustics to grammar: Perceiving and interpreting grammatical prosody in adolescents with asperger syndrome. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3, 502–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, J. (1973). Eta-squared and partial eta-squared in fixed factor ANOVA designs. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 33, 107–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Diehl, J. J., & Berkovits, L. (2010). Prosody as a diagnostic and cognitive bellwether of autism spectrum disorders. In Harrison, A. E. (Ed.), Speech disorders: Causes, treatment and social effects. Hauppage, NY: Nova Science Publishing.Google Scholar
Diehl, J. J., & Paul, R. (2009). The assessment of prosodic disorders and neurological theories of prosody. International Journal of Speech–Language Pathology, 11, 287–292.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diehl, J. J., Watson, D. G., Bennetto, L., McDonough, J., & Gunlogson, C. (2009). An acoustic analysis of prosody in high-functioning autism. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 385–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elliott, C. D. (1990). Differential ability scales. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Fosnot, S. M., & Jun, S. (1999). Prosodic characteristics in children with stuttering or autism during reading and imitation. Paper presented at the 14th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, San Francisco.Google Scholar
Green, H., & Tobin, Y. (2009). Prosodic analysis is difficult . . . but worth it: A study in high functioning autism. International Journal of Speech–Language Pathology, 11, 308–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howlin, P. (2003). Outcome in high-functioning adults with autism with and without early language delays: Implications for the differentiation between autism and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 33, 3–13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Järvinen-Pasley, A., Paisley, J., & Heaton, P. (2008). Is the linguistic content of speech more salient than its perceptual features in autism? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 239–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, D., Newland, E., Paul, R., Scassellati, B., & Diehl, J. J. (2008). A robotic therapist for affective prosody in high-functioning autistic children. Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, London.Google Scholar
Klin, A., Lang, J., Cicchetti, D. V., & Volkmar, F. R. (2000). Brief report: Interrater reliability of clinical diagnosis and DSM-IV criteria for autistic disorder: Results of DSM-IV autism field trial. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 163–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kogan, M. D., Blumberg, S. J., Schieve, L. A., Boyle, C. A., Perrin, J. M., Ghandour, R. M., et al. (2009). Prevalence of parent-reported diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder among children in the US, 2007. Pediatrics, 124, 1395–1403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Loca, J., & Wootton, T. (1995). Interactional and phonetic aspects of immediate echolalia in autism—A case study. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 9, 155–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lord, C., Risi, S., Lambrecht, L., Cook, E. H., Leventhal, B. L., DiLavore, P. C., et al. (2000). Autism diagnostic observational schedule-generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 205–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marshall, C. R., Harcourt-Brown, S., Ramus, F., & van der Lely, H. J. K. (2009). The link between prosody and language skills in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and/or dyslexia. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 44, 466–488.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCann, J., & Peppé, S. (2003). Prosody in autism spectrum disorders: A critical review. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 38, 325–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCann, J., Peppé, S., Gibbon, F. E., O'Hare, A., & Rutherford, M. D. (2007). Prosody and its relationship to language in school-aged children with high-functioning autism. Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 42, 682–702.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, J. N., & Ozonoff, S. (2000). The external validity of Asperger disorder: Lack of evidence from the domain of neuropsychology. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 227–238.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paccia, J. M., & Curcio, F. (1982). Language processing and forms of immediate echolalia in autistic children. Journal of Speech and Language Research, 25, 42–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paul, R., Augustyn, A., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. (2005). Perception and production of prosody by speakers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 205–220.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paul, R., Bianchi, N., Augustyn, A., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. R. (2008). Production of syllable stress in speakers with autism spectrum disorders. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2, 110–124.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paul, R., Orlovski, S., Marcinko, H. C., & Volkmar, F. R. (2009). Conversational behaviors in youth with high-functioning ASD and Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39, 115–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paul, R., Shriberg, L. D., McSweeny, J., Cicchetti, D., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F. (2005). Brief report: Relations between prosodic performance and communication and socialization ratings in high functioning speakers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 35, 861–869.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peppé, S. (2009). Why is prosody in speech-language pathology so difficult? International Journal of Speech–Language Pathology, 11, 258–271.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peppé, S., & McCann, J. (2003). Assessing intonation and prosody in children with atypical language development: The PEPS-C test and the revised version. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 17, 345–354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peppé, S., McCann, J., Gibbon, F., O'Hare, A., & Rutherford, M. (2007). Receptive and expressive prosodic ability in children with high-functioning autism. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 1015–1028.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Le Couteur, A., & Lord, C. (2003). Autism diagnostic interview—Revised. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.Google Scholar
Schoen, E., Paul, R., & Chawarska, K. (2010). Vocal development in toddlers with ASD. In Paul, R. & Flipsen, P. (Eds.), Child speech sound disorders: In honor of Lawrence D. Shriberg. San Diego, CA: Plural Publishers.Google Scholar
Semel, E., Wiig, E. H., & Secord, W. A. (2003). Clinical evaluation of language fundamentals (4th ed.). San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Shriberg, L. D., Paul, R., Black, L. M., & van Santen, J. P. H. (2011). The hypothesis of apraxia of speech in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41, 405–426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shriberg, L. D., Paul, R., McSweeny, J. L., Klin, A., Cohen, D. J., & Volkmar, F. R. (2001). Speech and prosody characteristics of adolescents and adults with high-functioning autism and asperger syndrome.Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44, 1097–1115.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stojanovik, V., Setter, J., & van Ewijk, L. (2007). Intonation abilities of children with Williams syndrome: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 1606–1617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and communication in autism. In Volkmar, F. R., Paul, R., Klin, A., & Cohen, D. J. (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders: Diagnosis, development, neurobiology, and behavior (3rd ed., pp. 335–364). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volkmar, F. R., Lord, C., Bailey, A., Schultz, R. T., & Klin, A. (2004). Autism and pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 135–170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wechsler, D. (1999). Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.Google Scholar
Wells, B., & Peppé, S. (2003). Intonation abilities in children with speech and language impairments. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 46, 5–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wells, B., & Peppé, S. (2004). Intonation development from five to thirteen. Journal of Child Language, 31, 749–778.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Werner, E., Dawson, G., & Osterling, J. (2000). Brief report: Recognition of autism spectrum disorder before one year of age: A retrospective study based on home videotapes. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 157–162.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wetherby, A. M., Woods, J., Allen, L., Cleary, J., Dickinson, H., & Lord, C. (2004). Early indicators of autism spectrum disorders in the second year of life. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 473–493.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, E. C., Diehl, J. J., Morris, D., Hyman, S. L., & Bennetto, L. (2005). The use of two language tests to identify pragmatic language problems in children with autism spectrum disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 62–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed