Receptive Prosody Skills in Individuals with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

Title of Thesis: RECEPTIVE PROSODY SKILLS IN INDIVIDUALS WITH HIGH FUNCTIONING AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS Megan Janssen, Master of Arts, 2012 Thesis directed by: Professor Rochelle Newman Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences Prosodic differences have been noted in the speech production of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD); however, little is known regarding their ability to perceive and understand features of prosody. It has been determined that children with typical development (TD) can recognize and utilize the prosodic cue of contrastive stress to facilitate interpretation of spoken instructions (Arnold, 2008). We examined this skill in 12 children and adolescents with ASD, and 12 with TD through the analysis of eye fixations to objects during instructions with varying discourse statuses (given or new) and stress patterns (accented or unaccented). Results indicated that both the participants with TD and with ASD were able to perceive and interpret the prosodic cue of contrastive stress within the contextual communication task. No relationships between language, cognitive, or expressive prosody skills and receptive prosody skills were found. Possible explanations, and clinical implications are discussed.