A Longitudinal Study of the Speech Behavior and Language Comprehension of Fourteen Children Diagnosed Atypical or Autistic

Abstract

A case study approach used informal and controlled clinical observations and analyses of tape recordings during a two year period to develop detailed descriptions of the speech behavior, language comprehension, and general functioning of fourteen institutionalized children diagnosed autistic or atypical. In speech behavior, the children could be classified as a talking group, from whom identifiable words were heard, or a vocalization group, from whom phonations were heard without any resemblance to words. The talking group's speech was composed almost entirely of echolalia or delayed echolalia. The vocalization group produced prolonged, monotonal, syllabic type vocalizations (consonant-vowel combinations) at extremes of high and low pitch and loudness levels with deviant voice quality. Reaction to the spoken language of adults by both groups seemed to be limited to a form of conditioned response to the total situation (i.e., to gestural, tonal, or situational clues) with no readily identifiable linguistic comprehension. The responses of the children to visual and auditory stimuli were strongly indicative of cognitive and perceptual dysfunction.