The use of demonstratives and personal pronouns in fragile X syndrome and autism spectrum disorder.

The sample was small. The study included only boys, so it does not show how girls with these diagnoses use these language forms. There was no group of boys with fragile X syndrome without autism, so it cannot tell whether any difference comes from fragile X syndrome, autism, or both. The language sample was a conversation, and it measured expressive use only. It did not include standardized or experimental tasks for production or comprehension. The boys produced few pronoun errors in the conversation, which may make it hard to see differences in pronoun use. Coding agreement was lower for abstract demonstratives and inappropriate demonstratives, although these instances were consensus coded. All participants were Standard American English speakers, so the results may not apply to other language backgrounds.

The study was supported by NIDCD and NICHD grants and start-up funds from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The authors reported no additional conflicts of interest.

Do not read the demonstrative difference as proof that fragile X and autism is associated with better social communication overall. The study compared only boys, used a conversation sample, and found no group difference in pronoun production.