Speech Understanding in Primary Schoolchildren with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Its Relationship with EEG Characteristics. Part I

Abstract

The article discussed ASD heterogeneity in terms of the severity of autistic manifestations, cognitive and speech abilities in children with different levels of functioning. We present results of a study of speech understanding at the level of phonology, vocabulary, morphosyntax and discourse in primary schoolchildren with ASD. The study revealed correlations between the severity of autistic manifestations of a socio-communicative nature and non-verbal IQ with various aspects of speech understanding. Comparison of the correlations in the subgroups of children with different levels of functioning revealed differences between the subgroups, indicating different mechanisms of disorders. The differences of the spectral characteristics of the EEG in children with ASD compared with the age norm, and characteristics in the studied subgroups are shown. We revealed differences in EEG spectral characteristics between subgroups with ASD with different levels of functioning: the subgroup with less pronounced disorders is characterized by a higher index of β2-activity, while the subgroup with more pronounced disorders – by a higher index of slow-wave activity.