PhD Defense: Mme Silvia Silleresi

Structural language and nonverbal ability profiles in monolingual and bilingual children with ASD

Abstract

A diagnosis of ASD includes specification of any co-occurrence with language impairment and/or cognitive disabilities. However, few studies have explicitly explored possible combinations of language (dis)ability and cognitive (dis)ability, with the aim of better defining profiles of structural language and nonverbal cognitive abilities. Our study proposed a systematic investigation of both of these abilities in fifty-one 6- to 12-year-old monolingual and bilingual children with ASD based on explicitly motivated measures. An integrative approach based on cluster analyses revealed five distinct clusters grouping together both monolingual and bilingual children with ASD. Among these five profiles, all four logically possible combinations of structural language and NV abilities were detected. Notably, language impaired children were more severely impaired than a group of age-matched children with SLI on morphosyntactic abilities, while some children with normal language abilities did not perform in line with TD age-peers on complex syntactic structures.

Composition du jury

Mme ANGEL Lucie, MCF-HDR, CeRCA, Université de Tours
M. BOUVARD Manuel, PU-PH, Centre Hospitalier Charles Perrens, Bordeaux et Université de Bordeaux
Mme GUASTI Maria Teresa, Professeur, Université de Milano-Bicocca, Italie
M. PRÉVOST Philippe, Professeur, Université de Tours
Mme TSIMPLI Ianthi Maria, Professeur, Université de Cambridge, GB
Mme TULLER Laurie, Professeur, Université de Tours