Parents and therapists have long known that even when
individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) meet normal language
milestones, there is still something odd or different about the way they talk.
It is sometimes hard “to put a finger on” what exactly differs in the language
of a person with ASD, even though people can hear it. Researchers have studied
language differences using language tests that examine the grammar, syntax, gestures,
the ability to communicate a story in a clear and logical order, and the
prosody of speech. Prosody includes the emotional emphasis a person places on a
word in order to highlight how important it is to what he or she is saying—it’s the tone,
pitch, or emphasis on specific syllables.
In 2010, Dr. Van Santen and colleagues at the Oregon Health
& Science University began to create new tools that could measure
differences in language with computer algorithms. In this first study, children
ages 4-8 years of age completed different language tasks. In some of them
children had to imitate words or sentences spoken by a computer, and in one
task children had to correct a computer when it made a mistake in describing a
picture of an animal. The computer algorithms were better than human raters at
picking up very subtle prosodic differences in the tone, pitch or emphasis of
how children with ASD spoke. This was particularly true when
children were coming up with their own words and not directly imitating the
computer.
Here at the Center for Autism Research our scientists are
starting to apply this research in more natural settings. Dr. Julia
Parish-Morris recently received a grant from the Autism Science Foundation to
record children with ASD having a conversation with our staff. She will then
use cutting-edge computer algorithms to understand what aspects of language not
only identify children with ASD from typically developing children, but can
also serve as a measuring stick for treatment. This study will focus on how skilled
children are at taking turns in conversation, and the use of contractions.
