Kinematic and Acoustic Analysis of Speech in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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PROJECT SUMMARY Deficits in speech and language skills are well documented in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a pervasive developmental disorder that affects 1 in 54 children in the United States. Despite the wide range of deficits and the debilitating effect of language impairments, the factors influencing divergent language outcomes in this population remain unknown, and the range of articulatory skills has not been adequately documented. The current study investigates the hypothesis that children with ASD exhibit abnormal articulatory motor control relative to same-age peers based on the premise that (1) it is well established that children with ASD have global motor control deficits, including impairments in both gross and fine motor skills, (2) less is known about their oromotor status, although existing studies have implicated oromotor deficits, and (3) research suggests that oromotor deficits predict poor language outcomes. We will use a comprehensive framework of kinematic and acoustic features representing five key components of articulatory motor control (i.e., coordination, consistency, precision, speed, and rate) to objectively quantify speech skills in children with ASD age 5;0 to 7;11. Motivation for using these features comes from gross motor, fine motor, and articulatory motor literature; however, this study would be the first to combine them in a comprehensive account of articulatory abilities in ASD, and among the first to use optical motion capture technology to assess speech in this population. Data obtained in the proposed project will be compared to normative data from typically developing children in the same age range being collected in a related study. The instrumental assessment of articulatory motor control will provide results that are more reliable and less vulnerable to bias than commonly used perceptual methods. To determine if severity of articulatory deficits predicts concurrent speech and expressive language abilities among children with ASD while controlling for age and non-verbal IQ, we will then examine each feature’s relationship to scores on standardized measures of articulation and expressive language. The findings of this study are critical to (1) furthering our understanding of language deficits in ASD, (2) informing clinical decision-making regarding the use of articulation-based therapies in conjunction with language-based therapies for children with ASD, and (3) addressing ongoing clinical and scientific issues including early detection of ASD and the identification of neurobiological mechanisms influencing communication development.