Speech and prosody characteristics of children with autism spectrum disorders

The objective of this study was to examine if segmental and prosodic patterns of young children with autism differ from typically developing peers. We compared 4 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to their developmentally-age matched peers. ASD participants in this study did not demonstrate segmental deficit patterns as much as language delays. Excessive, misplaced, and reduced stress and slowed articulation rate in utterances were the two greatest prosodic deficits ASD participants in this study demonstrated. These prosodic deficits, or delays, were quantitatively assessed, and seemed to be the qualitative characteristics often associated with ASD children in previous research. Our findings suggest that early intervention approaches for prosodic differences could be beneficial for children with ASD and their families with a concise, standardized diagnostic tool to assess prosodic differences more accurately.