Speaking the Same Language? A Preliminary Investigation, Comparing the Language and Communication Skills of Females and Males with High-Functioning Autism

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of autism and developmental disorders 2020-05, Vol.50 (5), p.1639-1656
Main Authors: Sturrock, Alexandra, Yau, Natalie, Freed, Jenny, Adams, Catherine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autism
Autistic children
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Child and School Psychology
Children
Communication
Communication disorders
Communication Skills
Comparative analysis
Demographic aspects
Females
Gender
Gender Differences
High functioning
Interpersonal communication
Language
Language Skills
Males
Neurosciences
Normative data
Original Paper
Pediatrics
Pervasive Developmental Disorders
Phenotypes
Preadolescents
Psychology
Public Health
Undiagnosed
Vocabulary
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0162-3257
1573-3432
DOI:10.1007/s10803-019-03920-6