Exploring Heterogeneous Language Abilities in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Diagnostic Markers and Comprehension

O’Shea, Aimee Leigh (2025) Exploring Heterogeneous Language Abilities in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Diagnostic Markers and Comprehension. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the breadth and importance of language abilities in individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The first half of this thesis sought to explore whether we can use atypical language abilities as diagnostic markers of ASD. The research in Chapter 2 aimed to test and validate the psychometric properties of the Language and Pragmatics Questionnaire (LAPQ), developed for use in children and adolescents as a screening tool for early autism symptoms pertaining to language. We concluded from this study that language abilities in early childhood are important indicators of potential autism, and that this questionnaire is a practical tool with clinical value. Chapter 3 explored whether we can use speech disfluencies as potential diagnostic markers of ASD in adults. Whilst previous research has been promising with the consistency of disfluency rates in autistic individuals, we did not find any significant group differences, suggesting that we cannot use these particular language abilities as diagnostic markers. The second half of this thesis sought to explore whether certain cognitive-level measures of atypical language comprehension can be identified in autistic adults. The research in Chapter 4 explored whether autistic individuals show atypical linguistic prediction. Our pilot study showed no significant group differences but did find some associations with autistic traits. Our main study again showed no significant group differences in terms of the accuracy of linguistic prediction, but we found autistic individuals to be significantly slower with prediction, suggesting a difficulty with the prediction process. Chapter 5 sought to find out whether autistic individuals show superior comprehension of passive implausible sentences. We found that autistic individuals actually showed lower overall levels of comprehension accuracy, despite not being as affected by the hardest sentence condition. Our research in Chapter 6 aimed to explore whether autistic individuals are atypical in their comprehension of novel metaphors utilising a Visual World Paradigm (VWP) where eye-movements were measured. Despite accurately identifying metaphors, autistic individuals showed online processing in line with the assumptions that they process this type of stimuli in an atypical way. Finally, the thesis is concluded, offering theoretical discussions and opportunities for future research

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2025 11:36
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2025 11:36
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/101464
DOI:

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