Goiaeva D.E., Obukhova T.S., Ovsyannikova T.M., Rytikova A.M., Dzhioeva T.G., Pavlova A., Nikolaeva A.Y. The specificity of assessment of phonemic hearing in children with ASD

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are characterized by a wide range of cognitive, social, and communicative deficits. The impairments in speech and social communication are among the most pronounced and the most important for social adaptation. However, existing tests of speech development tend to confound speech difficulties with intellectual problems, thus, impeding the accurate diagnostics and efficient rehabilitation. Therefore, careful evaluation of existing assessment methods is needed before using their results to guide the rehabilitation efforts. Here, we examined the impact children’s intellectual level has on the results of the phonological assessments by the speech test battery "KORABLIK". We tested 30 boys with ASD (aged 6.8–13.6) and 37 neurotypical (NT) peers (aged 6.0–14.1). All children had average intelligence (IQ ⩾ 70). Four "KORABLIK" subtests – "word repetition," "pseudoword repetition," "nouns understanding," and "verbs understanding" – showed the presence of phonological deficit in children with ASD compared to NT children. Although, only the results of the “pseudoword repetition” test were independent from the intelligence level, while being influenced only by presence or absence of ASD diagnosis. Thus, the results of our study demonstrate that few of existing assessment methods are specific enough to differentiate between the core speech and intellectual deficits. This finding emphasizes the need to meticulously select and/or develop tests for children with ASD that will capture impairments in phonological processing but will be unaffected by conjoined deficits.

Key words: autism spectrum disorder, speech development, phonemic perception, cognitive abilities, auditory-speech perception, phonological deficit 

For citation: Goiaeva, D.E. Obukhova, T.S., Ovsyannikova, T.M., Rytikova, A.M., Dzhioeva, T.G., Pavlova, A., Nikolaeva, A.Y. (2024). The specificity of assessment of phonemic hearing in children with ASD. New Psychological Research, No. 1, 143–158. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2024_04_01_07

Acknowledgment

The reported study was funded by RFBR and MES RSO, project number 20-513-07005.