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Person-Centred (Deictic) Expressions and Autism

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Abstract

We employed semi-structured tests to determine whether children with autism produce and comprehend deictic (person-centred) expressions such as ‘this’/‘that’, ‘here’/‘there’ and ‘come’/‘go’, and whether they understand atypical non-verbal gestural deixis in the form of directed head-nods to indicate location. In Study 1, most participants spontaneously produced deictic terms, often in conjunction with pointing. Yet only among children with autism were there participants who referred to a location that was distal to themselves with the terms ‘this’ or ‘here’, or made atypical points with unusual precision, often lining-up with an eye. In Study 2, participants with autism were less accurate in responding to instructions involving contrastive deictic terms, and fewer responded accurately to indicative head nods.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the pupils and staff of the schools for participating in this study, and in particular, the Helen Allison School, Gravesend, and Edith Borthwick School, Braintree. We are most grateful to Prof Shula Chiat for helping us to think about the design of the study. We are indebted to the Baily Thomas Charitable Trust, the Wellcome Trust and NHS R&D funding, for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tavistock Clinic, 120 Belsize Lane, London, NW3 5BA, UK

    R. Peter Hobson, Rosa M. García-Pérez & Anthony Lee

  2. Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, UK

    R. Peter Hobson

  3. Musicaycolor, Center of Music Therapy and Child Psychology, Maldonado 41, Madrid, 28006, Spain

    Rosa M. García-Pérez

Authors
  1. R. Peter Hobson
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  2. Rosa M. García-Pérez
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  3. Anthony Lee
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Correspondence to R. Peter Hobson.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 5.

Table 5 Comprehension test instructions
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Hobson, R.P., García-Pérez, R.M. & Lee, A. Person-Centred (Deictic) Expressions and Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 40, 403–415 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0882-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-009-0882-5

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