Comparison of Disfluent and Ungrammatical Speech of Preadolescents with and without ASD.
Mari Wiklund, Minna Laakso
PMID 33095352WHAT IT FOUND
Boys with high-functioning ASD spent more time producing disfluent and ungrammatical speech than controls.
Their disfluencies were complex, involving word searches and grammatical errors that disrupted conversation, unlike the simple pauses seen in typical peers.
Key findings
01The mean proportion of speech time containing disfluencies and ungrammatical expressions was 26.4% for the ASD group compared to 15.5% for the control group.
02While controls produced more speaking turns with disfluencies, these were mainly short pauses and fillers that did not disturb the flow of speech.
03Preadolescents with ASD produced turns that were often both disfluent and ungrammatical, leading to comprehension problems and requiring therapist intervention to resolve.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The sample size was very small (5 participants with ASD and 6 controls), limiting generalisability. The study was descriptive and used small-sample statistics (means, medians) rather than inferential hypothesis testing. The control group conversation was constructed for the study, while the ASD group data came from authentic therapy sessions, potentially introducing context differences. All participants were Finnish-speaking boys; results may not apply to other languages or girls. Some participants in the ASD group had co-morbid attention or executive function difficulties, which may have influenced speech production.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and the University of Helsinki including Helsinki University Central Hospital. No conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the higher percentage of disfluent turns in the control group as evidence that they had worse speech. The controls had more turns with disfluencies, but these were simple, non-disruptive pauses. The ASD group had fewer turns with disfluencies, but those turns were complex and grammatically broken, which caused the actual communication breakdown.