Pre-reading language understanding and production in Croatian children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Language comprehension and production in the pre-reading years significantly influence the acquisition of reading skills. This study compared differences in pre-reading skills between 10 children showing typical development and 10 children with high-functioning autism (HFA) or Asperger syndrome speaking Croatian, a morphologically rich language for which few studies on acquisition of pre-reading skills have been conducted. Children 5-7 years old were tested using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III-HR), Test for Reception of Grammar (TROG-2:HR), and the Teddy Test for Expression of Semantic Bonds and Morphological Closure. The two groups performed similarly on the PPVT-III-HR and TROG-2:HR tests, while typically developing children performed significantly better on the Teddy Test. This differential performance appears to be due, at least in part, to defects in expression of semantic connections, grammar difficulties, and other linguistic specificities documented in children with HFA or Asperger syndrome, such as idiosyncratic language use, neologisms and meticulous language.