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Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8337-8548
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Communication Disorders
Year Degree Awarded
2020
Month Degree Awarded
September
First Advisor
Mary V. Andrianopoulos
Second Advisor
Adrian Staub
Third Advisor
Shelley L. Velleman
Subject Categories
Speech Pathology and Audiology
Abstract
Autism is a disorder of the comprehension and use of pragmatic language. Children with autism often display heterogeneous patterns of language ability even when language is considered a strength. This real-time analysis is a partial replication of Sedivy et al. (1999) who found evidence for incremental processing of pragmatic language in real-time with adults. This investigation focused on prosodic focus and scalar adjective comprehension in children with and without autism. Results show that children with autism successfully interpret prosodic focus when interpreting intersective adjectives but show processing delays in interpreting scalar adjectives. Implications for pragmatic language processing differences between children with autism and those without are discussed.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/19200722
Recommended Citation
Curro, Kristina, "An eye tracking investigation of the pragmatic language comprehension abilities of children with autism" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations. 2004.
https://doi.org/10.7275/19200722
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/2004
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.