Keywords

autism, categorical perception, consonants, auditory perception, phonemic awareness, voice onset time

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether children with autism recognize the same perceptual voicing boundaries of stop consonants as normally developing children of the same age group. This was explored using three groups of participants: ten children with autism between the ages of 8-14, five typically developing children between the ages of 8-14, and five typically developing seven-year-old children. Children in all groups listened to initial stop consonant syllables with voicing contrasts, with voiced and voiceless cognates presented. The initial consonants were altered along a voice onset time continuum within the typically perceived boundaries of each consonant. Participants were instructed to select the box containing the letter of the initial consonant they perceive when they hear each syllable. Results revealed greater difference between the responses of the children with autism when compared with the older control group, than when compared with the younger children. The responses of the children with autism were more similar to those of the children in the second control group. This could be indicative of a delay in the children with autism of perception of the categorical boundaries along the dimension of voice onset time compared to typical children's perception of these consonants.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2009

Advisor

Ryalls, Jack

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Health and Public Affairs

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Degree Program

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0002796

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002796

Language

English

Release Date

July 2014

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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