Aspergers Syndrome Study

Aspergers Syndrome is a lifelong neurobiological disorder of social interaction and behavior (Frith 2004; Wing 1981; Gillberg and Gillberg 1989; Klin et al. 2000). The purpose of this study was to study the language performance in school-aged children with Aspergers Syndrome along with their age, sex, and IQ matched controls. Prior to the study, they expected children with Aspergers Syndrome to perform below average in the selected measures of language due to their difficulties in language development. There was a total of forty-five children who participated in this study. Twenty-two children had Aspergers and twenty-three children were healthy children used as the control group. The children with Aspergers were all clinically diagnosed
This speeded naming task asked children to name colors and mixed symbols such as letters, numbers, and colors. Neuropsychological Evaluation Test, aka NEPSY, is a standardized neuropsychological test battery for children, and was recently demonstrated to be a reliable method for finding different neurocognitive phenotypes in ASD (Hooper et al. 2006). There are six subtests within NEPSY that seek various language abilities. The Sentence Repetition subtest measures auditory short-term memory. The Non-Word Repetition subtest measures children’s ability to analyze and reproduce phonological knowledge. Verbal Fluency subtest evaluates verbal expressions, fluency, and inventiveness. Children are asked to say as many words as possible in a certain category in one minute. Phonological Processing subtests discovers the children’s ability to distinguish word structure. Children are asked to change the syllable or phoneme structures of different words. Comprehension of Instruction subtest assesses verbal comprehension and auditory working memory.
It is possible that children with Aspergers focused on the single words, rather than the whole sentence. This study was made to comprehend whether school-aged children with Aspergers Syndrome had shortages in language performance and whether it contributed to their communication difficulties. The results showed that their were small differences in linguistic ability between children with Aspergers and their control groups in language reception. These problems may have an effect on their social behavior and contribute to communication problems in children with