Asperger's Syndrome Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Asperger's Syndrome, including details on symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, medication.

Use of context in pragmatic language comprehension by children with asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism.

Loukusa S, Leinonen E, Kuusikko S, Jussila K, Mattila ML, Ryder N, Ebeling H, Moilanen I

Department of Finnish, Information Studies and Logopedics, University of Oulu, PO Box 1000, FIN-90014, Oulu, Finland.

Utilizing relevance theory, this study investigated the ability of children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA) to use context when answering questions and when giving explanations for their correct answers. Three groups participated in this study: younger AS/HFA group (age 7-9, n = 16), older AS/HFA group (age 10-12, n = 23) and a normally functioning control group (age 7-9, n = 23). The results indicated that the younger AS/HFA group did less well when answering contextually demanding questions compared to the control group, and the performance of the older AS/HFA group fell in between the younger AS/HFA group and the control group. Both AS/HFA groups had difficulties explaining their correct answers, suggesting that they are not always aware of how they have derived answers from the context.

Published 25 June 2007 in J Autism Dev Disord, 37(6): 1049-59.
Full-text of this article is available online (may require subscription).

© 2004-2008 Asperger's Syndrome Research Today. All Rights Reserved.