Signing with the Face: Emotional Expression in Narrative Production in Deaf Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The sample was small, with 12 typically developing deaf participants and 10 deaf participants with autism spectrum disorder. The BSL Production Test is designed for ages 4 to 11, but participants were aged 8.5 to 17. The first rater knew which group each participant was in, although a blind second rater rescored a sample and raters reached consensus. Only a narrow range of emotional expressions was tested, and the study did not directly assess imitation, motor skills or theory of mind. Some participants used hearing aids or cochlear implants, so auditory input may have affected communication. The small sample may have made it hard to detect true differences, so null findings for total facial actions and some expressions need caution.

The supplied text reports funding by the Economic and Social Research Council. It does not report author conflicts of interest.

Do not conclude that deaf children with autism produce fewer facial expressions overall. The total number of facial action targets did not differ significantly between groups. The differences were in exact match to adult signers and in demand and mischief.