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- Title
High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome: The Language Issue.
- Authors
Fossard M; Bibeau A
- Abstract
For the past few years, a debate has existed between researchers grouping Asperger's syndrome and high-functioning autism under a single banner and those who recognise as "fundamental" certain differences between the two groups, suggesting that Asperger's syndrome is an entity in and of itself. Currently, the only official criterion used in a clinical setting refers to the presence or absence of significant, general delayed speech in order to respectively differentiate high-functioning autism (HFA) from Asperger's syndrome (AS). The speech delay is assessed in regards to the production of isolated words around the age of two and of communication value sentences at around three years of age (DSM-IV-TR, APA, 2000). Aim of the study: First, the study aims to report research results comparing the two groups on language variables. It also examines the pertinence of using the delayed speech criterion to establish a distinction between the two diagnoses. Results: Of the thirteen selected studies, only three report significant differences in regards to language competences between the two groups, favouring participants with Asperger's syndrome. The authors believe this difference would be explained by a delay-free language acquisition by the latter. However, the other studies report subtle language and communication differences between participants of the two groups. These differences could be explained other than by purely qualitative language characteristics. Conclusions: Despite substantial limits linked to the validity of the results obtained by the subject studies, the conclusions do favour challenging the validity of criterion D of the DSM-IV (2000).
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology, 2010, Vol 34, Issue 4, p246
- ISSN
1913-200X
- Publication type
Journal Article