Language Disorders Research Articles

Interventions through Art Therapy and Music Therapy in Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, Language Disorders, and Learning Disabilities in Pediatric-Aged Children: A Systematic Review.

Traditional pharmacological treatments, although effective, often carry potential side effects, which positions art therapy and music therapy as promising non-pharmacological alternatives to alleviate symptoms and improve social, cognitive, and emotional skills without the associated risks. Through a review in the SCOPUS and WOS databases following the PRISMA protocol, a total of 80 articles were analyzed through a series of determined categories and subcategories of analysis. The aim of this study is to evaluate and synthesize the existing evidence on the efficacy and applicability of art therapy and music therapy in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), hyperactivity disorder (HSDD), developmental language disorders, and language learning difficulties, identifying best practices and key areas for future research. Among the main findings is that art therapy and music therapy have a significant impact on symptomatology, behavior, and communication as well as social, cognitive, and emotional skills in the pediatric populations studied. These therapies are highly valued by the participants with a large majority recognizing their adaptability to different educational and clinical contexts. It is concluded that these therapies have a high potential as viable alternatives or complements to traditional pharmacological treatments, justifying their application and further study in broader therapeutic contexts.

Lexical associations in patients with neurodegenerative disorders. Two case studies: A patient with spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA-1) and a patient with Parkinson’s disease (PD

This article presents case studies of the relative ability of two subjects (OB1 and OB2) to make lexical associations; they have spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 and Parkinson’s disease, respectively. Test method: subjects gave associations (orally, with no time limit) to 63 verbal stimuli presented on a computer screen. Verbal stimuli were selected from Gatkowska’s experimental study (Gatkowska 2017). Responses were recorded on an Olympus 650 digital voice recorder, then analysed linguistically and psychologically. Results: psychological analysis – subjects within intellectual norm (Raven’s Matrices test), dysarthric disorder, difficulty in implementing instructions. Linguistic analysis: OB1 – predominance of paradigmatic relations (hyponymy, meronymy, synonymy) over syntagmatic relations (diffi culty building context), lack of causality. OB2 – richer paradigmatic relations (hyponymy, meronymy, synonymy, antonymy, complementarity), syntagmatic relations diverse. Conclusions: possible complex background of language disorders (executive, emotional), higher level of language functioning of OB2 compared to OB1. The study illustrates the need for an interdisciplinary and holistic approach in diagnostic and therapeutic management.

Feasibility, acceptability, and perceived benefits of a creative arts intervention for elementary school children living with speech, language and communication disorders

BackgroundChildren with speech, language, and communication disorders require specialized support in response to their emotional expression challenges. Not only is such support key for their development, but it is also essential for their mental well-being. Art making emerges as a valuable tool for enabling these children to convey emotions both verbally and non-verbally, fostering a positive self-concept. School-based arts interventions have the potential to improve self-concept and emotional expression, and more generally, the quality of life. However, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived effectiveness of a manualized, school-based creative arts intervention for this specific group.AimThis study aimed to develop and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived benefits of an art-based intervention for elementary school students with speech, language, and communication disorders, using qualitative methods to obtain diverse perspectives.ResultsThe findings indicate that the intervention was feasible and well received, as reported by teachers, students, and facilitators. Participants also discussed potential positive outcomes, including emotional expression, emotional growth, and fulfilment of autonomy, competence, and relatedness needs. Students found the workshops conducive to sharing emotions and took pride in the creative process. Teachers gained deeper insights into their students, fostering positive classroom relationships. Observational data triangulated these findings.ConclusionThis innovative project suggests that art-based interventions can potentially benefit students’ emotional expression, but further experimental studies are needed to substantiate these effects.

Cognitive vs. Linguistic Training in Children with Developmental Language Disorder: Exploring Their Effectiveness on Verbal Short-Term Memory and Verbal Working Memory.

The present study explores comparatively the effectiveness of a cognitive (verbal short-term memory (vSTM), verbal working memory (vWM)) and of a linguistic training (10-week duration each) in the diffusion of gains in cognitive abilities (vSTM and vWM) of in school-aged Greek-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD). To this purpose, two computerized training programs i.e., a linguistic and a cognitive one, were developed and applied to three groups (A, B, and C) of children with DLD (N = 49, in total). There were three assessments with two vSTM tasks (non-word repetition and forward digit span) and a vWM task (backward digit span): pre-therapeutically (time 1), where no significant between-group differences were found, post-therapeutically I (time 2), and post-therapeutically II (time 3) and two training phases. In phase Ι, group A received meta-syntactic training, whereas group B vSTM/vWM training and group C received no training. In phase ΙΙ, a reversal of treatment was performed for groups A and B: group A received vSTM/vWM while group B meta-syntactic training. Again, group C received no training. Overall, the results indicated a significant performance improvement for the treatment groups and revealed beneficial far-transfer effects as language therapy can affect vSTM and vWM in addition to direct and near transfer effects. In addition, the intervention type order affected performance as follows: first, better performance on the vSTM task (non-word repetition) was shown when the linguistic treatment was delivered first; second, better performance on the vWM in Time 2 and Time 3 was shown by group B, for which the cognitive treatment was delivered first. Concluding, not only intervention type but also intervention type order can affect performance in DLD.

Should We Stop Using Lexical Diversity Measures in Children's Language Sample Analysis?

Prior work has identified weaknesses in commonly used indices of lexical diversity in spoken language samples, such as type-token ratio (TTR) due to sample size and elicitation variation, we explored whether TTR and other diversity measures, such as number of different words/100 (NDW), vocabulary diversity (VocD), and the moving average TTR would be more sensitive to child age and clinical status (typically developing [TD] or developmental language disorder [DLD]) if samples were obtained from standardized prompts. We utilized archival data from the norming samples of the Test of Narrative Language and the Edmonton Narrative Norms Instrument. We examined lexical diversity and other linguistic properties of the samples, from a total of 1,048 children, ages 4-11 years; 798 of these were considered TD, whereas 250 were categorized as having a language learning disorder. TTR was the least sensitive to child age or diagnostic group, with good potential to misidentify children with DLD as TD and TD children as having DLD. Growth slopes of NDW were shallow and not very sensitive to diagnostic grouping. The strongest performing measure was VocD. Mean length of utterance, TNW, and verbs/utterance did show both good growth trajectories and ability to distinguish between clinical and typical samples. This study, the largest and best controlled to date, re-affirms that TTR should not be used in clinical decision making with children. A second popular measure, NDW, is not measurably stronger in terms of its psychometric properties. Because the most sensitive measure of lexical diversity, VocD, is unlikely to gain popularity because of reliance on computer-assisted analysis, we suggest alternatives for the appraisal of children's expressive vocabulary skill.

Investigating pausing and gesturing patterns in children with and without developmental language disorder

Abstract This study aims at observing the co-occurrence of filled (FP) and unfilled pauses (UP) and gestures in the narratives of children with and without Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Although children with DLD are known to be more “disfluent” than typically developing children (TD), little is known about the role of pauses in children’s speech and their interaction with gestures. 22 French-speaking children with DLD and 22 age- and gender-matched controls, between 7 and 10, recounted a cartoon excerpt. We annotated pauses and their position in utterances, and we coded gestures according to their function. Despite a similar pausing rate across groups, results show that TD children produced more utterance-beginning FPs and more mid-utterance UPs, while children with DLD produced more standalone FPs and mid-utterance UPs. Furthermore, multimodal patterns of co-occurrence, specific to pause type, emerged. While both groups had similar gesture rates and produced mostly referential gestures, TD children produced slightly more beat gestures during FPs and more self-adaptors and pragmatic gestures during UPs. Children with DLD produced more referential gestures and object-adaptors during UPs. These differences point to the temporal relationship between gestures and pauses and the multiple ways these two phenomena may interact according to the child’s profile.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with Herpes Simplex Encephalitis in Vietnam: a retrospective study

BackgroundHerpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) is an important central nervous infection with severe neurological sequelae. The aim of this study was to describe clinical characteristic and outcomes of patients with HSE in Vietnam.MethodsThis was a retrospective study of 66 patients with herpes simplex encephalitis who admitted to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hanoi, Vietnam from 2018 to 2021. The detection of herpes simplex virus (HSV) in cerebrospinal fluid was made by the real-time PCR assay. We reported the clinical manifestation on admission and evaluated clinical outcomes at the hospital discharge by modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the independent risk factors of severe outcomes.ResultsOf the 66 patients with laboratory confirmed HSE, the median age was 53 years (IQR 38–60) and 44 patients (69.7%) were male. The most common manifestations included fever (100%), followed by the consciousness disorder (95.5%). Other neurological manifestation were seizures (36.4%), memory disorders (31.8%), language disorders (19.7%) and behavioral disorders (13.6%). Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed 93.8% patients with temporal lobe lesions, followed by abnormalities in insula (50%), frontal lobe (34.4%) and 48.4% of patients had bilateral lesions. At discharge, 19 patients (28.8%) completely recovered, 15 patients (22.7%) had mild sequelae, 28 patients (42.4%) had moderate to severe sequelae. Severe neurological sequelae were memory disorders (55.8%), movement disorders (53.5%), language disorders (30.2%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that Glasgow score decrement at admission, seizures, and time duration from onset of symptoms to the start of Acyclovir treatment > 4 days were independent factors associated with severe outcomes in HSE patients.ConclusionGlasgow score decrement, seizures and delay treatment with Acyclovir were associated with the poor outcome of patients with HSE.

Evaluation of Language Dysfunction among Untreated Patients with Psychosis Attending the Psychiatry Inpatient Services of a Tertiary Healthcare Centre from North India: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Psychosis, encompassing conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder with psychotic features, presents a perplexing landscape where language dysfunction emerges as a notable hallmark. Compared to classical psychotic symptoms (such as delusions and hallucinations), language disorganization can be directly observed, and it is not dependent upon subjective reports of abnormal experiences on part of the patient. Consequently, it has been regarded by researchers as a more objective and informative clinical marker of brain dysfunction in psychosis. There is a dearth of Indian studies in this domain and when compared to international studies, a strong need for revival of research has been felt. Aim: To evaluate language dysfunction among first-admission untreated patients of psychosis using the clinical language disorder rating scale (CLANG). Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, language dysfunction among 60 untreated psychotic patients who attended the psychiatry inpatient services of a tertiary care center from North India in the period from January 2022 to October 2023 were evaluated for the presence of language dysfunction using a valid tool called CLANG after taking approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee and with the informed consent of the patients and/or their caregivers. Data set for 60 patients regarding the sociodemographic-clinical profile and language dysfunction was obtained. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics as appropriate. Results: Diagnosis-wise, most of our patients belonged to schizophrenia (n = 26) (43.33%). Rest of them psychotic disorders like bipolar affective disorder with psychotic symptoms (15%) and schizoaffective disorder (11.67%) to name a few. The most commonly affected language domains in our patients were referential failures (65%), discourse failures (46.67%) and lack of semantic association (16.67%). Schizophrenics were differentiated from non-schizophrenic psychosis patients based on lack of semantic association (exclusively seen in schizophrenics). Referential failures and discourse failures were commonly noted in both schizophrenia and non-schizophrenic psychotic disorders. Poverty of speech was rather predominant in mood disorders with psychotic symptoms. Conclusion: The findings of our study put emphasis on the fact that language dysfunction is a core component of the phenomenon of psychosis and perhaps revalidates the neural basis of psychosis. The domain ‘lack of semantic association’ was typically present in patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, while other language abnormalities like referential failures and abnormal prosody were generally present in patients of untreated psychosis.

Persepsi Terapis Wicara tentang penggunaan Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) dalam pemilihan Metode Terapi Afasia

Abstract Background: In line with the increasing number of speech therapists, services for stroke patients with language disorders are increasingly fulfilled. On the other hand, the application of various therapeutic methods in aphasia cases is also varied but it is not so clear whether the selection of these methods also uses the principles of evidence-based practice (EBP). Objectives: This study aims to determine the perception of speech therapists regarding the use of EBP in the selection of therapy methods for aphasia patients. Methods: Descriptive quantitative research design with a sample size of 44 people using purposive sampling. Results: Most speech therapists believe systematic review will be able to provide the best efficacy and EBP helps in the process of determining goals and selecting interventions for aphasia patients. The higher the frequency of using EBP literature, the better the application to the therapy method. Conclusion: The use of EBP is still weak in the selection of aphasia methods by most speech therapists. There needs to be strategic steps from the professional association to further socialize EBP at the clinical level. Keywords: Perception, EBP, Therapy Method, Aphasia.

Language and reading in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder+developmental language disorder.

The current study sought to examine whether psycholinguistic assessments could discriminate children and adolescents with developmental language disorder (DLD) from those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; combined or inattentive subtype) and comorbid DLD+ADHD. The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Screening Test (CELFST; Wiig etal., 2013), the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (nonword repetition subtest; Wagner etal., 2013), and the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (sight word and phonemic decoding subtests; Torgesen etal., 2012) were examined in 441 children and adolescents between 6 and 16years of age. The presence of a language disorder (with or without ADHD) predicted poor performance across tasks. Children and adolescents with ADHD (combined vs. inattentive) only significantly differed in sight word reading, in favor of those with combined type. Measures of reading efficiency could distinguish between the two types of ADHD, but not between other groups. Interestingly, scores on the standard language screener were no worse for children with ADHD+DLD than children with DLD only. The combination of comorbid ADHD+DLD did not appear to be associated with lower language abilities, sight word reading, or phonemic decoding relative to DLD alone. Reading efficiency was effective in discriminating between ADHD subtypes. These findings offer valuable insights into differential diagnosis and the identification of comorbidity.

Implicit and Explicit Language Learning to Facilitate Subordinating Conjunction in Developmental Language Disorders

Abstract Background: Priming and recast approaches are scientifically proven to improve grammatical production abilities. However, based on a literature review, there are no articles that test the effectiveness of the priming and recast approach in improving grammatical skills such as subordinating conjunctions. Objective: This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the priming and recast approach in improving subordinating conjunctions in children with developmental language disorders. Objectives: This study aims to see the effectiveness of the priming and recast approach in improving subordinating conjunctions in children with developmental language disorders. Methods: This research uses a quasi-experiment, with multiple baseline across behaviors design. This research involved two children diagnosed with developmental language disorders aged 5 years. Each participant was trained to use subordinating conjunctions for five sessions, 30 minutes per session Results: In general, the priming and recast approach can improve the ability of subordinating conjunctions in children with developmental language disorders. Conclusion: Grammatical production of subordinating conjunctions can be trained using implicit or explicit learning. Keywords : priming, recast approach, language disorder, speech therapy, subordinating conjunctions

Language disorders: diagnosis and treatment in neurological practice

Language disorders resulting from cerebral stroke or other focal brain lesions, as well as from some neurodegenerative diseases (aphasia) are common in neurological practice and have a negative impact on almost all kinds of social interaction and the quality of life of patients. The aim of this work was to study and summarize the information on aphasia in the world scientific lite-rature in order to achieve a consensus among representatives of different specialties and to optimize the diagnostic and treatment strategies in patients with language disorders. We searched for publications from 2001 to 2023 on language disorders in neurological diseases, diagnosis, and treatment of aphasia in the PubMed, Clinical Key Elsevier, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases. The article highlights the historical aspects of the formation of modern ideas about language disorders and considers the main clinical forms of aphasia, their relationship with the topography of brain lesions. Diagnostic approaches in speech and language disorders include assessment of speech production, speech comprehension, naming, repetition, reading and writing, in addition to pronunciation and fluency, which is performed in clinical practice by neurologists, speech and language therapists. Based on a comprehensive assessment of language functions, language impairment can be classified as one or more of the seven main clinical forms of aphasia. The main predictors of a better recovery of language functions are a milder initial severity of aphasia, an earlier initiation of treatment and an adequate scope of therapy. The basis of treatment and rehabilitation for aphasia is speech and language therapy, which can be carried out by both specialists and the patient’s family or caregivers. The role of drug treatment and non-invasive brain stimulation in improving language functions is still very limited and requires further research. Teaching patients and their family certain rules of communication taking into account present language disorders is of great importance. Future treatment strategies for aphasia are likely to consist of a combination of a behavioral approach with pharmacotherapeutic and neuromodulatory interventions.

Treatability of the KMT2-Associated Neurodevelopmental Disorders Using Antisense Oligonucleotide-Based Treatments

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) of genetic origin are a group of early-onset neurological diseases with highly heterogeneous etiology and a symptomatic spectrum that includes intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorder, and learning and language disorders. One group of rare NDDs is associated with dysregulation of the KMT2 protein family. Members of this family share a common methyl transferase function and are involved in the etiology of rare haploinsufficiency disorders. For each of the KMT2 genes, at least one distinct disorder has been reported, yet clinical manifestations often overlap for multiple of these individually very rare disorders. Clinical care is currently focused on the management of symptoms with no targeted treatments available, illustrating a high unmet medical need and the urgency of developing disease-modifying therapeutic strategies. Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are one option to treat some of these rare genetic disorders. ASOs are RNA-based treatments that can be employed to modulate gene expression through various mechanisms. In this work, we discuss the phenotypic features across the KMT2-associated NDDs and which ASO approaches are most suited for the treatment of each associated disorder. We hereby address variant-specific strategies as well as options applicable to larger groups of patients.

COULD EARLY LITERACY SCORES AFFECT THE DIAGNOSIS OF SPECIFIC LEARNING DISORDER IN CHILDREN AT RISK

Background and objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the early literacy skills of pre-school children at risk of Specific Learning Disorder (SLD) by comparing Test of Early Literacy (TEL) scores between three groups including the siblings of children with SLD, children with speech disorder and healthy controls. Methods: Children between the age of 60-72 months were recruited. The total number of participants was 81. A sociodemographic Data Form, the Colored Progressive Matrices Test (CPM) and TEL were applied to all participants. Results: A significant difference was determined between the performance of the three groups in all sub-tests of TEL. The children with speech disorder displayed the worst score in all sub-tests except vocabulary; this was followed by the siblings of children with SLD while the control group displayed the highest scores. Conclusion: The current study is the first investigating the TEL scores of pre-school children using a transparent language like Turkish at risk of SLD. The risky group with a language disorder showed the worst performance in almost all subtests examined. It is critical to start interventions early, assuming that this group will be at highest risk in the future.

The relationship between oral language abilities and reading: The case of children with developmental language disorder

Oral language abilities have been reported to be related to reading development. This relationship seems to be determined by orthographic systems and reading development. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) show reading difficulties, although most studies focus on reading comprehension. The present study has two main objectives: to examine the reading performance of a group of Spanish-speaking children with DLD compared to a chronologically age-matched group of typically developing children (TD); and to study the relationship between oral language abilities and reading performance using network analysis. They were administered five standardized tests to obtain measures about oral language abilities and reading performance. Results showed that children with DLD were less accurate and slower in reading than TD children. Meanwhile, the network analyses suggest strong and stable connections between reading and oral production in the DLD group. This finding confirms the importance of language abilities for reading acquisition.

Sentence Repetition as a Diagnostic Tool for Developmental Language Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

This systematic review and multilevel meta-analysis examines the accuracy of sentence repetition (SR) tasks in distinguishing between typically developing (TD) children and children with developmental language disorder (DLD). It explores variation in the way that SR tasks are administered and/or evaluated and examines whether variability in the reported ability of SR to detect DLD is related to these differences. Four databases were searched to identify studies that had used an SR task on groups of monolingual children with DLD and TD children. Searches produced 3,459 articles, of which, after screening, 66 were included in the systematic review. A multilevel meta-analysis was then conducted using 46 of these studies. Multiple preregistered subgroup analyses were conducted in order to explore the sources of heterogeneity. The systematic review found a great deal of methodological variation, with studies spanning 19 languages, 39 SR tasks, and four main methods of production scoring. There was also variation in study design, with different sampling (clinical and population sampling) and matching (age and language matching) methods. The overall meta-analysis found that, on average, TD children outperformed children with DLD on the SR tasks by 2.08 SDs. Subgroup analyses found that effect size only varied as a function of the matching method and language of the task. Our results indicate that SR tasks can distinguish children with DLD from both age- and language-matched samples of TD children. The usefulness of SR appears robust to most kinds of task and study variation. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25864405.

Association between exposure to antibiotics during pregnancy or early infancy and risk of autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disorder, language disorder, and epilepsy in children: population based cohort study

ObjectiveTo evaluate the association between antibiotic use during pregnancy or early infancy and the risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children.DesignNationwide population based cohort study and sibling analysis.SettingKorea’s National Health Insurance...

Genetic variability of FOXP2 and its targets CNTNAP2 and PRNP in frontotemporal dementia: A pilot study in a southern Italian population

The Forkhead box P2 (FOXP2) is an evolutionary conserved transcription factor involved in the maintenance of neuronal networks, implicated in language disorders. Some evidence suggests a possible link between FOXP2 genetic variability and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) pathology and related endophenotypes. To shed light on this issue, we analysed the association between single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in FOXP2 and FTD in 113 patients and 223 healthy controls. In addition, we investigated SNPs in two putative targets of FOXP2, CNTNAP2, Contactin-associated protein-like 2 and PRNP, prion protein genes. Overall, 27 SNPs were selected by a tagging approach. FOXP2-rs17213159-C/T resulted associated with disease risk (OR = 2.16, P = 0.0004), as well as with age at onset and severity of dementia. Other FOXP2 markers were associated with semantic and phonological fluency scores, cognitive levels (MMSE) and neuropsychological tests. Associations with language, cognitive and brain atrophy measures were found with CNTNAP2 and PRNP genetic variability. Overall, although preliminary, results here presented suggest an influence of regulatory pathways centred on FOXP2 as a molecular background of FTD affecting neurological function of multiple brain areas.

Estrategia metodológica para atención de estudiantes con necesidades educativas especiales no asociadas a la discapacidad en sector rural de Ecuador

The article aims to present the design of a methodological strategy for the care of students with special educational needs not associated with disabilities in the rural sector of the city of Manta, at the Ahitana Ponce Santana Fiscal Educational Unit. The methodology was mixed approach, with a descriptive scope and a non-experimental design. The methods used were analysis, synthesis, inductive and deductive reasoning; additionally, interviews and surveys were conducted with a sample of 3 teachers and 84 students corresponding to sections A and B of the 8th year of Basic General Education, respectively. According to the teachers, the main special educational needs not associated with disabilities in the students include learning difficulties, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and language or communication disorders. Students show difficulties in understanding and applying concepts, insecurities in self-esteem and academic confidence, as well as difficulties in conflict resolution and decision-making. Therefore, additional support is required, as well as the development of specific strategies to improve the learning process and academic well-being. The conclusion is reached through a methodological strategy that includes activities aimed at initial assessment, design of individualized intervention plans, use of technological resources to enhance learning and attention, teacher training and support, as well as collaboration with families.

Exploiting ChatGPT for Diagnosing Autism-Associated Language Disorders and Identifying Distinct Features.

Diagnosing language disorders associated with autism is a complex and nuanced challenge, often hindered by the subjective nature and variability of traditional assessment methods. Traditional diagnostic methods not only require intensive human effort but also often result in delayed interventions due to their lack of speed and specificity. In this study, we explored the application of ChatGPT, a state-of-the-art large language model, to overcome these obstacles by enhancing diagnostic accuracy and profiling specific linguistic features indicative of autism. Leveraging ChatGPT's advanced natural language processing capabilities, this research aims to streamline and refine the diagnostic process. Specifically, we compared ChatGPT's performance with that of conventional supervised learning models, including BERT, a model acclaimed for its effectiveness in various natural language processing tasks. We showed that ChatGPT substantially outperformed these models, achieving over 13% improvement in both accuracy and F1-score in a zero-shot learning configuration. This marked enhancement highlights the model's potential as a superior tool for neurological diagnostics. Additionally, we identified ten distinct features of autism-associated language disorders that vary significantly across different experimental scenarios. These features, which included echolalia, pronoun reversal, and atypical language usage, were crucial for accurately diagnosing ASD and customizing treatment plans. Together, our findings advocate for adopting sophisticated AI tools like ChatGPT in clinical settings to assess and diagnose developmental disorders. Our approach not only promises greater diagnostic precision but also aligns with the goals of personalized medicine, potentially transforming the evaluation landscape for autism and similar neurological conditions.