Séminaire de Recherche en Linguistique

Language abilities in autistic children have been found to range from very little language to language skills comparable to those of neurotypical children, with many autistic children displaying language impairment (LI). Moreover, about 30% of children with autism also have intellectual disability (ID). This large heterogeneity raises important theoretical issues with respect to the modularity conceptualization of language competence and the nature of LI in autism. The issue of modularity concerns the link between socio-communicative abilities (which are impaired in autism) and language development. Do deficits in social interaction and communication impact on language development in autism, and how? Similarly, is there a link between intellectual abilities and language development in autism? With respect to language impairment, how does LI in autism compare with LI in other neurodevelopmental disorders, such as developmental language disorder? Are language difficulties similar in both cases? In this presentation, I will show how investigation of these issues crucially depends on assessment of different language domains (e.g. beyond vocabulary), through carefully crafted assessment tools, and the inclusion of children from the whole autism spectrum. I will also discuss ways to address heterogeneity to investigate language abilities and establish language profiles in autism, which in turn can have important clinical implications regarding the development of personalized therapy.