Alteraciones asociadas al autismo: ¿Qué nos enseñan sobre cómo los bebés adquieren el léxico?

Els nens que reben diagnòstics de trastorns de l’espectre de l’autisme (TEA) mostren trajectòries de desenvolupament lingüístic atípiques, sobretot en els seus primers 2-3 anys de vida. En aquest article, veurem com en aquests nens s’alteren qualitativament precursors i mecanismes essencials per a aquest desenvolupament, i també com nous mètodes d’investigació estan aportant dades que demanen canvis profunds en la manera d’abordar teòricament l’estudi dels mecanismes que fan possible als nens l’accés al món de les paraules.Children who receive diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders show atypical linguistic development trajectories, especially in their first 2-3 years of life. In this article, we will see how several precursors and mechanisms that usually lead to this development are qualitatively altered in these children. Also, we will see how new methods of research yield data that demand profound changes to the theoretical study of the mechanisms that make children’s access to the lexical world possible.Los niños que reciben diagnósticos de trastornos del espectro del autismo muestran trayectorias de desarrollo lingüístico atípicas, sobre todo en sus primeros 2-3 años de vida. En este artículo, veremos cómo en estos niños se alteran cualitativamente precursores y mecanismos esenciales para ese desarrollo y, también cómo nuevos métodos de investigación están aportando datos que demandan cambios profundos en el modo de abordar teóricamente el estudio de los mecanismos que hacen posible a los niños el acceso al mundo de las palabras

Alterations associated to autism: What do they teach us on how babies acquire the lexicon?

Los niños que reciben diagnósticos de trastornos del espectro del autismo (TEA) muestran trayectorias de desarrollo lingüístico atípicas, sobre todo en sus primeros 2-3 años de vida. En este artículo, veremos cómo en estos niños se alteran cualitativamente precursores y mecanismos esenciales para ese desarrollo, y también cómo nuevos métodos de investigación están aportando datos que demandan cambios profundos en el modo de abordar teóricamente el estudio de los mecanismos que hacen posible a los niños el acceso al mundo de las palabrasEls nens que reben diagnòstics de trastorns de l’espectre de l’autisme (TEA) mostren trajectòries de desenvolupament lingüístic atípiques, sobretot en els seus primers 2-3 anys de vida. En aquest article, veurem com en aquests nens s’alteren qualitativament precursors i mecanismes essencials per a aquest desenvolupament, i també com nous mètodes d’investigació estan aportant dades que demanen canvis profunds en la manera d’abordar teòricament l’estudi dels mecanismes que fan possible als nens l’accés al món de les paraulesChildren who receive diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders show atypical linguistic development trajectories, especially in their first 2-3 years of life. In this article, we will see how several precursors and mechanisms that usually lead to that development are qualitatively altered in these children. Also, we will see how new methods of research yield data that demand profound changes in the way of approaching theoretically the study of the mechanisms that make possible to children access to the world of word

Multimodal communicative patterns on the transition to first words: changes in the coordination of gesture and vocalization

El objetivo del estudio es explorar la coordinación degestos y vocalizaciones en patrones comunicativos multimodales en el periodo de transición a las primeras palabras. Para ello se analizaron longitudinalmente las conductas comunicativas de 11 niños españoles monolingües entre los 9 y los 15 meses. Se observó que el uso de recursos comunicativos multimodales aumenta significativamente a los 12 meses,y que hay diferencias en el acompañamiento vocal de los distintos tipos degestos. Al considerar la función comunicativa yla estructura de las vocalizaciones que acompañan a los gestos, el gesto de alcance aparece vinculado a la función imperativa yésta a vocalizaciones vocálicas, mientras que el gesto de señalar se asocia a la función declarativa y a vocalizaciones tanto vocálicas como consonánticas.The aim of this study is to explore gestural and vocal coordination in multimodal communicative patterns during the transition period to first words. We analyse longitudinally the communicative behaviours of 11 monolingual Spanish children from 9 to 15 months of age. We observed both that use of multimodal communicative resources increases significantly at 12 months, and that differences on the vocal accompaniment of different types of gestures exist. Considering communicative function and vocalizations structure, we observe that reaching gesture is linked to the imperative function and to vocalic vocalizations, whereas pointing gesture is associated to the declarative function and to both vocalic and consonantic vocalizations

Gestural-vocal coordination: longitudinal changes and predictive value on early lexical development

The aim of this study was to examine longitudinally gestural and vocal coordination in multimodal communicative patterns during the period of transition to first words, and its role in early lexical development. Eleven monolingual Spanish children were observed from 9 to 12 and 15 months of age in a semistructured play situation. We obtained three main findings: (1) the use of multimodal patterns of communication increases significantly with age during the period studied; (2) the rate of use of those multimodal patterns at 12 months predicts lexical development at 15 months; and (3) the use of the pointing gesture at 12 months, especially when it is accompanied with vocalization and social use of gaze, is the best predictor of lexical outcome at 15 months. Our findings support the idea that gestures, gazes and vocalizations are part of an integrated and developing system that children use flexibly to communicate from early on. The coordination of these three types of elements, especially when a pointing gesture is involved, has a predictive value on early lexical development and appears as a key for progress in language developmen

Ineficacia en la comunicación referencial de personas con autismo y otros trastornos relacionados: un estudio empírico

This study examines the perfonnance of 30 high-functioning children and adolescents with autism and other related childhood disorders in a referential communication task where they were asked to play the role of speaker. The structure and changes of the messages produced by the subgroups in the first and last trial of the task were analyzed. Three different patterns were identified confirming that the pragmatic -and specifically, the referential- deficits constitute a relevant clinical trait for all these groups although they probably reflect several and dzperent cognitive disorders. We point up the usefulness of referential communication tasks to test the validity of subgroups increasingly referred to as the "autistic continuum or spectrum disorders", and propose some hypotheses conceming the cognitive base of their communicative referential dificulties. Some implications for the design of training and educational programs are finally derived from the analysis of changes in messages in two different trials of the task.En el presente estudio se examinó la eficacia de 30 niños y adolescentes diagnosticados de autismo y otros trastornos relacionados, con un nivel de funcionamiento psicológico alto, en la ejecución de una tarea de comunicación referencial en la que desempeñaban el rol de hablantes. Tras comparar la estructura y cambios de los mensajes generados por los distintos grupos de sujetos en el primer y último ensayo de la tarea, se identificaron tres patrones de respuesta diferenciados que confirmaron la hipótesis de que los déficits pragmáticos -y, específicamente, los déficits referenciales- constituyen un signo clínico relevante de todos los tipos de trastorno aquí estudiados aunque, probablemente, reflejan déficits cognitivos muy diversos. Tras comentar la utilidad del empleo de tareas de comunicación referencial en la validación de los subgrupos que componen el llamado continuo o espectro autista, se sugieren algunas hipótesis sobre los déficits cognitivos subyacentes a las dificultades referenciales de los subgrupos estudiados y se destacan las implicaciones para el diseño de programas de intervención derivadas del estudio de los cambios observados en los sucesivos ensayos de la tarea

Ineficacia en la comunicación referencial de personas con autismo y otros trastornos relacionados: un estudio empírico

This study examines the perfonnance of 30 high-functioning children and adolescents with autism and other related childhood disorders in a referential communication task where they were asked to play the role of speaker. The structure and changes of the messages produced by the subgroups in the first and last trial of the task were analyzed. Three different patterns were identified confirming that the pragmatic -and specifically, the referential- deficits constitute a relevant clinical trait for all these groups although they probably reflect several and dzperent cognitive disorders. We point up the usefulness of referential communication tasks to test the validity of subgroups increasingly referred to as the "autistic continuum or spectrum disorders", and propose some hypotheses conceming the cognitive base of their communicative referential dificulties. Some implications for the design of training and educational programs are finally derived from the analysis of changes in messages in two different trials of the task.En el presente estudio se examinó la eficacia de 30 niños y adolescentes diagnosticados de autismo y otros trastornos relacionados, con un nivel de funcionamiento psicológico alto, en la ejecución de una tarea de comunicación referencial en la que desempeñaban el rol de hablantes. Tras comparar la estructura y cambios de los mensajes generados por los distintos grupos de sujetos en el primer y último ensayo de la tarea, se identificaron tres patrones de respuesta diferenciados que confirmaron la hipótesis de que los déficits pragmáticos -y, específicamente, los déficits referenciales- constituyen un signo clínico relevante de todos los tipos de trastorno aquí estudiados aunque, probablemente, reflejan déficits cognitivos muy diversos. Tras comentar la utilidad del empleo de tareas de comunicación referencial en la validación de los subgrupos que componen el llamado continuo o espectro autista, se sugieren algunas hipótesis sobre los déficits cognitivos subyacentes a las dificultades referenciales de los subgrupos estudiados y se destacan las implicaciones para el diseño de programas de intervención derivadas del estudio de los cambios observados en los sucesivos ensayos de la tarea

Social orienting and initiated joint attention behaviors in 9 to 12 month old children with autism spectrum disorder: A family home movies study

According to the Social Motivation model children with autism show deficits in social orienting (looking at faces and responding to name) at the end of their first year of life. In this model, those deficits are both the earliest behavioral consequences of an alteration in the dopamine reward system balance and the foundation of the social impairments that characterize this neurodevelopmental disorder. The current study tests two of the main predictions of this model: that social orienting deficits are the first behavioral manifestation of autism, and that they are developmentally related to joint attention deficits. We retrospectively analyzed family home movies of 9- to 12-month-old infants, 29 of whom were later diagnosed with autism and 16 of whom were typically developing. After confirming that the videotapes of both groups were similar in content of the scenes recorded (contexts, type of social activity, etc.), we compared their social orienting (social gaze and responding to name) and joint attention behaviors (gaze alternation and gestures). No significant differences between groups were found in looking at faces, but the group with autism showed deficits in responding to name and initiations of joint attention (IJA). Looking at people was not significantly correlated with IJA behaviors, but response to name was. The lack of group differences in looking at faces between 9 and 12 months, and the existence of IJA difficulties in the ASD group without concurrent impairment in looking at faces, do not support predictions of the Social Motivation model

Anterobasal temporal lobe lesions alter recurrent functional connectivity within the ventral pathway during naming

An increasing amount of evidence supports a crucial role for the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in semantic processing. Critically, a selective disruption of the functional connectivity between left and right ATLs in patients with chronic aphasic stroke has been illustrated. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the consequences that lesions on the ATL have on the neurocognitive network supporting semantic cognition. Unlike previous work, in this magnetoencephalography study we selected a group of patients with small lesions centered on the left anteroventral temporal lobe before surgery. We then used an effective connectivity method (i.e., dynamic causal modeling) to investigate the consequences that these lesions have on the functional interactions within the network. This approach allowed us to evaluate the directionality of the causal interactions among brain regions and their associated connectivity strengths. Behaviorally, we found that semantic processing was altered when patients were compared with a strictly matched group of controls. Dynamic causal modeling for event related responses revealed that picture naming was associated with a bilateral frontotemporal network, encompassing feedforward and feedback connections. Comparison of specific network parameters between groups revealed that patients displayed selective network adjustments. Specifically, backward connectivity from anterior to posterior temporal lobe was decreased in the ipsilesional hemisphere, whereas it was enhanced in the contralesional hemisphere. These results reinforce the relevance of ATL in semantic memory, as well as its amodal organization, and highlight the role of feedback connections in enabling the integration of the semantic information.This work was supported by a research grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Grant SAF2011-27920) to I.G.-M. P.C. was supported by a Ramo´n y Cajal Fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC-2010-05748). C.P. was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (AP2009-4131)