Interrogative Sentence Expression in Typical Development and High-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

The interrogative sentence expression of 22 children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFA) was tested using an induced experimental paradigm and compared with two groups of typical developing children matched by chronological age and language age. Results from the present study demonstrated that the interrogative sentence expression ability of children diagnosed with HFA was significantly lower than typical developing children. Specifically, the following results were observed in the present study: the expression ability of wh-questions of children with HFA was significantly lower than that of the two groups of typical developing children. However, there was no significant difference in the ability to use yes-no questions, affirmative-negative questions, or alternative questions. Results from the present study suggest that children with HFA may benefit from training to improve flexibility of interrogative sentence expression.