Study hints that nonverbal people with ASD may have surprising grasp of written language conventions

Many nonverbal or minimally verbal individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) appear to have some understanding of written language conventions, according to researchers at the University of Virginia.

Vikram Jaswal and colleagues enrolled 31 nonverbal or minimally verbal autistic teenagers and adults in their study. Participants played an iPad game that involved tapping flashing letters, and the researchers examined the speed at which they tapped the letters.

Analyzing the results, the researchers found that about half of the participants exhibited patterns indicating that they knew how to spell:

• They tapped flashing letters faster when the letters spelled out sentences than when the letters made no sense.
• They tapped letters that usually go together faster than letters that do not usually go together.
• They paused before tapping the first letter of a new word, indicating that they knew where one word ended and the next word began.
  

The researchers say, “These findings suggest that nonspeaking autistic people can acquire foundational literacy skills. With appropriate instruction and support, it might be possible to harness these skills to provide nonspeaking autistic people access to written forms of communication as an alternative to speech.”

However, the researchers caution that their sample was small and that participants had all had at least one year of experience learning to spell words and sentences on a letterboard. They say, “We do not know whether nonspeaking autistic people who did not have that experience would perform similarly.” Additionally, they say, “It is possible that the literacy skills documented here could be acquired without any connection to meaning, as in some accounts of hyperlexia.”

Citations

“Literacy in nonspeaking autistic people,” Vikram K Jaswal , Andrew J Lampi, and Kayden M Stockwell, Autism, March 2024 (free online). Address: Vikram K Jaswal, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, PO Box 400400, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4400, [email protected].

—and—

“Study reveals unexpected literacy in autistic people who cannot speak,” news release, University of Virginia College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, March 6, 2024.