Prosodic Development in Normal and Autistic Children

Abstract

Deficits in prosody have been consistently described as an integral part of the speech and language disorder in autistic children (Kanner, 1946; Ornitz & Ritvo, 1976). Such deficits still remain evident in the language characteristics of children whose speech showed considerable improvement over time (DeMyer, Barton, DeMyer, Norton, Allen, and Steele, 1973; Rutter & Lockyer, 1967; Baltaxe & Simmons, 1983). However, there is still a paucity of research investigating the deficits in this important aspect of speech and language. The present review is an effort to summarize prosodic studies in autism and to consider the findings to date in terms of what is known about prosody in normal language acquisition and in language pathology. Finally, we will present some speculation on how the prosodic deficits might fit into the general picture of the autistic language disturbance and brain dysfunction.