Communication regulation ability depending on honorific type in children with high-functioning autism

Abstract

Objectives: Children with high functioning autism spectrum disorders (HF-ASD) have relatively intact form of language, however they have deficits in using language. The Korean language has a rich honorific system; which involves not only the grammatical domain, but also the pragmatic one. The purpose of this study was to investigate the communication regulation ability depending on honorific types (non-honorifics vs. honorifics, vocabulary vs. grammatical morphemes) between children with HF-ASD and typically developing children (TD). Methods: Twelve 5-to 9-year-old children with HF-ASD and twelve TD children participated in this study. Children were asked to judge if presented conversations which had honorifics were correct or not, and then to modify them if they are incorrect. The task consisted of 23 items which had conversations with honorifics and non-honorifics. Results: The HF-ASD group showed lower performance in recognition of honorifics compared to the TD group. TD children had higher scores in non-honorifics than in honorifics, but HF-ASD children showed the opposite result. The HF-ASD group had lower scores in vocabulary and grammatical morpheme regulation. Conclusion: Children with HF-ASD have difficulty in communication regulation skills depending on honorific types. They seem to have difficulty in recognizing honorifics and modifying the honorific errors in conversations. Therefore; it is necessary to help them to recognize the situations in which honorifics are needed before teaching honorific systems. © 2020 Korean Academy of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology.