Idiom Comprehension Deficits in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder Using a Korean Autism Social Language Task

Abstract

PurposeHigh-functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD) involves pragmatic impairment of language skills. Among numerous tasks for assessing pragmatic linguistic skills, idioms are important to evaluating high-functioning ASD. Nevertheless, no assessment tool has been developed with specific consideration of Korean culture. Therefore, we designed the Korean Autism Social Language Task (KASLAT) to test idiom comprehension in ASD. The aim of the current study was to introduce this novel psychological tool and evaluate idiom comprehension deficits in high-functioning ASD.Materials and MethodsThe participants included 42 children, ages 6-11 years, who visited our child psychiatric clinic between April 2014 and May 2015. The ASD group comprised 16 children; the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) group consisted of 16 children. An additional 10 normal control children who had not been diagnosed with either disorder participated in this study. Idiom comprehension ability was assessed in these three groups using the KASLAT.ResultsBoth ASD and ADHD groups had significantly lower scores on the matched and mismatched tasks, compared to the normal control children (matched tasks mean score: ASD 11.56, ADHD 11.56, normal control 14.30; mismatched tasks mean score: ASD 6.50, ADHD 4.31, normal control 11.30). However, no significant differences were found in scores of KASLAT between the ADHD and ASD groups.ConclusionThese findings suggest that children with ASD exhibit greater impairment in idiom comprehension, compared to normal control children. The KASLAT may be useful in evaluating idiom comprehension ability.

Can You Play with Fire and Not Hurt Yourself? A Comparative Study in Figurative Language Comprehension between Individuals with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Lee et al [28] tested Korean high-functioning children with autism compared to similarly aged children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and a control group of typically developing children. The test design included matching idioms to a picture, which either described the figurative meaning of the expression or the literal interpretation.…”

Aberrant Neural Activation Underlying Idiom Comprehension in Korean Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…In other words, idiom comprehension plays an important role in understanding social language. 8 12 People acquire social language naturally by observing others and mimicking their speech. Therefore, deficits in inference and empathy regarding other's mental states may cause impairments in comprehension of social language.…”

“…The KASLAT was developed by our research team for assessing pragmatic abilities using idiom comprehension; the tool's reliability and utility was confirmed in a previous study. 12 As shown in Fig. 1 , the KASLAT is comprised of three conditions: neutral (N), matched (M), and mismatched (MM).…”

“…This change suggests that social interaction and communication are intimately associated and thus difficult to separate. 5 12 Therefore, impaired social reciprocity may be associated with impaired pragmatics in individuals with ASD.…”

“…To determine the neural mechanisms of social and language processing, we conducted an fMRI study with high functioning children with ASD and TDC using the Korean Autism Social Language Task (KASLAT), which is a pragmatic language task that incorporates Korean idioms. 12 …”