Summary: Nonspeaking autistic individuals may possess undervalued literacy skills, suggesting the potential for written communication as an expressive alternative. By adapting an innovative method akin to Whac-a-Mole, the research team demonstrated that a significant portion of the study’s nonspeaking autistic participants could predict letter sequences in sentences, indicating a foundational understanding of written language.
This discovery challenges conventional assumptions about the cognitive abilities of nonspeaking autistic people and highlights the importance of providing targeted literacy instruction to enhance their communication options. The findings underscore the necessity of reassessing educational and support strategies for autistic individuals without speech, opening new avenues for their inclusion and participation in society.
Key Facts:
- Underestimated Literacy Skills: The study found that nonspeaking autistic individuals showed a much higher understanding of written language conventions than previously believed.
- Innovative Assessment Method: Researchers utilized a tablet-based game to measure participants’ ability to anticipate letter sequences, revealing literacy competencies in over half of the nonspeaking autistic participants.
- Potential for Written Communication: The results advocate for the exploration of written forms of communication to unlock educational, employment, and social opportunities for nonspeaking autistic people.
Source: University of Virginia
About one-third of autistic people are unable to communicate using speech, and most are never provided an effective alternative. However, a new study from scientists at the University of Virginia suggests that many of these individuals are literate, raising the possibility that they could learn to express themselves through writing.
The study published in the journal Autism, reports that five times more nonspeaking autistic teenagers and adults demonstrated knowledge of written language conventions than would be expected from previous estimates of their abilities.
The finding has important implications for the millions of autistic people around the world who have little or no speech and who are often assumed to be incapable of acquiring literacy.
“If we assume that someone who can’t speak doesn’t understand, it limits the doors we open for them – we may not even try to figure out what they understand,” said Vikram Jaswal, Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia and the lead author of the study.
“Our study shows that nonspeaking autistic people’s capacity for language, for learning, and for literacy has been seriously underestimated.”
The investigators addressed a fundamental question about literacy: whether or not nonspeaking autistic people react to letters, words and sentences in the same way as literate, non-autistic individuals.
Jaswal’s team developed a method similar to the arcade game Whac-a-Mole which required participants to tap letters displayed on a tablet as soon as those letters lit up. In some instances, the letters lit up in sequences that spelled out sentences that participants had earlier heard spoken aloud, and in other instances the letters lit up in meaningless sequences.
The research team, which included Ph.D. candidate Kayden Stockwell and recent graduate Andrew Lampi made the assumption that a literate individual – who knows how to spell and can convert speech into its written form – can predict the next letter in a sentence they have heard spoken aloud even before seeing that letter light up.
Consequently, they could be expected to respond faster to the sentences than to meaningless sequences. Jaswal’s team found that over half of the sample group of 31 nonspeaking autistic participants responded in the same way a literate individual would.
According to Jaswal, the results are striking because they show that even though most participants in the study had not received formal instruction in literacy, many had developed an understanding of how written language works.
“Society has traditionally assumed that people who can’t speak are unable to understand language or to learn to read or write,” Jaswal said.
“But our findings suggest that many nonspeaking autistic people have foundational literacy skills. With appropriate instruction and support, it might be possible to harness these skills to provide access to written forms of communication as an alternative to speech.
“Learning to express themselves through writing would open up educational, employment and social opportunities that nonspeaking autistic people have historically not been given access to.”
“This is cutting-edge research with enormous potential for impact,” said Christa Acampora, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
“We are truly fortunate to have professor Jaswal and outstanding graduate students like Kayden Stockwell and Andrew Lampi in the College’s research community. Together, they’re asking important questions, and their discovery will have life-changing consequences for many.”
About this ASD and literacy research news
Author: Russ Bahorsky
Source: University of Virginia
Contact: Russ Bahorsky – University of Virginia
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Literacy in nonspeaking autistic people” by Vikram Jaswal et al. Autism
Abstract
Literacy in nonspeaking autistic people
Autistic people who cannot speak risk being underestimated. Their inability to speak, along with other unconventional behaviors and mannerisms, can give rise to limiting assumptions about their capacities, including their capacity to acquire literacy.
In this preregistered study, we developed a task to investigate whether autistic adolescents and adults with limited or no phrase speech (N = 31) have learned English orthographic conventions.
Participants played a game that involved tapping sequentially pulsing targets on an iPad as quickly as they could.
Three patterns in their response times suggest they know how to spell: (a) They were faster to tap letters of the alphabet that pulsed in sequences that spelled sentences than letters or nonsense symbols that pulsed in closely matched but meaningless sequences; (b) they responded more quickly to pairs of letters in meaningful sequences the more often the letters co-occur in English; and (c) they spontaneously paused before tapping the first pulsing letter of a new word.
These findings suggest that nonspeaking autistic people can acquire foundational literacy skills.
With appropriate instruction and support, it might be possible to harness these skills to provide nonspeaking autistic people access to written forms of communication as an alternative to speech.
