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. 2016 May;60(5):478-90.
doi: 10.1111/jir.12286.

Consonant differentiation mediates the discrepancy between non-verbal and verbal abilities in children with ASD

A P Key  1   2 , P J Yoder  1   2   3 , W L Stone  4
Affiliations

Consonant differentiation mediates the discrepancy between non-verbal and verbal abilities in children with ASD

A P Key et al. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2016 May.

Abstract

Background: Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate verbal communication disorders reflected in lower verbal than non-verbal abilities. The present study examined the extent to which this discrepancy is associated with atypical speech sound differentiation.

Methods: Differences in the amplitude of auditory event-related potentials elicited by contrasting consonant-vowel syllables during a passive listening paradigm were used to assess speech sound differentiation in 24 children with ASD and 18 chronological age-matched children with typical development (TD), M age 6.90 years (SD = 1.39).

Results: Results revealed that compared with TD peers, children with ASD showed reduced consonant differentiation in the 84- to 308-ms period. Brain responses indexing consonant differentiation were negatively related to the degree of discrepancy in non-verbal and verbal abilities and mediated the relationship between diagnostic group membership and the greater discrepancy.

Conclusions: We discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of the brain's response to speech sound contrasts possibly explaining the greater non-verbal versus language ability in children with ASD compared with that in typically developing children.

Keywords: ERP; autism; consonant differentiation; language; speech perception.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
128-cannel electrode layout and the electrode clusters used in the analyses.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Average ERP waveforms in response to consonant contrasts at anterior and posterior temporal locations in typical children.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Average ERP waveforms in response to consonant contrasts at anterior and posterior temporal locations in children with ASD.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
The putative mediated relation between diagnostic group membership and language impairment (nonverbal-verbal standard score discrepancy) through brain response to /b/-/d/ contrast. The standardised coefficient in parentheses is the effect of diagnostic group on K-BIT score discrepancy when brain measures are not included in the model. * p <.05 # p <.06
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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