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Children with autism align syntax in natural conversation

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 19:38 authored by Zoë Hopkins, Nicola YuillNicola Yuill, Bill Keller
Previous experimental work has shown that verbal children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) converge linguistically, or align, with an interlocutor, and to the same extent as typical children. However, it is not known whether ASD children align in natural conversation. The studies presented in this paper aimed to address this issue. We measured syntactic alignment in ASD children, first using an experimental task, and second in natural conversation. We found that ASD and typical children aligned to the same extent in both tasks, suggesting that experimental findings about alignment in ASD are ecologically valid. We argue, however, that the experimental measurement of alignment overstates the prevalence of syntactic alignment in children's conversations.

Funding

2012 Doctoral Training Grant (EPSRC); G0942; EPSRC-ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL; EP/K503198/1

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Applied Psycholinguistics

ISSN

0142-7164

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Issue

2

Volume

37

Page range

347-370

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2015-01-21

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