Voice Characteristics of Autism

Transcription

1 ASD: Motor & Motor Speech Impairments Voice Characteristics of Autism Approximately 50% remain non-oral throughout their lives (Paul, 1987; Seal & Bonvillian, 1997) Marcil J. Boucher, M.A. (Doctoral Fellow) Mary V. Andrianopoulos, Ph.D. Shelley L. Velleman, Ph.D. Jennifer Perkins, M.S. Lauren Pecora, B.S. Oral and verbal apraxias (Marili, 2004; Prizant, 1996; Seal & Bonvillian, 1997) Nearly two thirds of children with autism experience difficulties in executing daily routines (Noterdaeme, Mildenberger, Minow & Amorosa, 2002). 2 ASD: Speech Differences Childhood Apraxia of Speech: Speech motor programming/planning difficulties Express stress atypically Prosodic Disturbances (Paul, Augustyn, Kiln & Volkmar, 2005) Utterance duration Pause duration (Zajac et al., 2006) Slower rate of speech Temporal variability Variable durations across both syllables and words (Shriberg, Campbell, Karlsson, Brown, McSweeny & Nadler, 2003; Shriberg, Green, Campbell, McSweeny & Scheer, 2003) Pause events Coefficient of Variation Ratio (Shriberg, Green, Campbell, McSweeny & Scheer, 2003) 3 4 CAS: Perception of Stress CAS: Stress & Motor Speech Programming/Planning Difficulties in acquiring stress patterns (Odell & Shriberg, 2001; Shriberg, Campbell, Karlsson, Brown, McSweeny & Nadler, 2003) Articulate correct stress patterns less often than typically developing children or those with phonological delays (Munson, 2003; Skinder, Strand & Mignerey, 1999) Excessive/equal/misplaced stress (Shriberg, Aram, Kwiatkowski & Mignerey, 1999) Overall unintelligibility (Skinder, Strand, & Mignerey, 1999) 5 6 1

2 Our Previous Findings* Significantly decreased maximum phonation time for the vowel [ɑ] to approximately 3 seconds Increased formant values, in particular for the vowel [i] Decreased pitch, especially in regards to the vowel [i] Our Previous Findings* Slower rate of speech characterized by uniform lengthening across phrases, including both pause length and vowel length in comparison to TD children. Difficulty in producing two or more repetitions of syllables in AMR & SMR tasks. *(Boucher, Andrianopoulos, Velleman, Perkins, et al., 2006 & 2007) *(Boucher, Andrianopoulos, Velleman, Perkins, et al., 2006 & 2007) 7 8 Our Previous Findings* Research Aims Variable and/or inconsistent performance across tasks. Atypical scores on the VMPAC, specifically in the areas of Focal Oromotor Control and Sequencing; and poor Speech Characteristics scores *(Boucher, Andrianopoulos, Velleman, Perkins et al., 2006 & 2007) To identify voice characteristics of speech among children with ASD To compare findings by Perkins, Andrianopoulos, Velleman, and Van Emmerik (2006) of voice differences between children with CAS and TD children. To contribute to differential diagnosis and planning of effective speech therapies for ASD and CAS Methodology: Participants Methodology: Procedure Inclusion/Exclusion criteria Age: 4-6;11 Diagnosis of ASD No cranio-facial or other structural differences Vocabulary of at least 50 words, 10 of which must be oral No uncorrected hearing or visual deficits No history within the past 6 months of self-injury or injury to others or property damage Cross-sectional prospective study (α 0.05) SPHHS Human Subjects Review Evaluation / permission & consent forms IQ testing (between 70-90) Pure tone hearing screening ADOS test administered

3 Production of: [ɑ] [u] [i] Methodology: Variables/ Speech tasks Short phrases pea tea key beet boot boat bat Methodology: Instrumentation & Acoustic Analysis Responses recorded onto DAT tapes through a head-mounted microphone (sound-treated booth) Multi-Dimensional Voice Profile program (Kay Pentax) Sentences Buy Bobby a puppy Mommy bakes pot pies Methodology: Statistical Analysis Results: Fundamental Frequency Measurements Excel spreadsheet Average Standard deviations F-tests SPSS 17 statistical software package One-way ANOVAs [ɑ] Not a statistically significant difference (p<.262) [u] ASD higher pitch Not a statistically significant difference (p<.813) [i] ASD higher pitch Not a statistically significant difference (p<.770) Results: Fundamental Frequency Measurements Results: Fundamental Frequency Measurements Statistically significant difference (p<.036) Not a statistically significant difference (p<.558) Not a statistically significant difference (p<.725) Also least variable Not a statistically significant difference (p<.782)

4 Results: Frequency Perturbation Measurements Results: Frequency Perturbation Measurements [ɑ] Not a statistically significant difference (p<.253) [u] ASD highest jitter in % Not a statistically significant difference (p<.897) [i] Not a statistically significant difference (p<.335) Less variable than CAS, but more variable than TD High statistically significant difference (p<.001) Not a statistically significant difference (p<.141) Results: Frequency Perturbation Measurements Frequency Perturbation Measurements: Pea tea key Less variable than CAS, but more variable than TD Statistically significant difference (p<.026) Highly statistically significant difference (p<.000) Mean Value Individual F-test ANOVA Significance ASD * CAS TD ASD & CAS ASD & TD CAS & TD Results: Amplitude Perturbation Measurements Results: Amplitude Perturbation Measurements [ɑ] ASD highest Shimmer in db Not a statistically significant difference (p<.947) [u] CAS least variable, TD most Not a statistically significant difference (p<.494) [i] Not a statistically significant difference (p<.370) More variable than CAS or TD Statistically significant difference (p<.042) More variable than TD but less than CAS Not a statistically significant difference (p<.264)

5 Results: Amplitude Perturbation Measurements More variable than TD but less than CAS Not a statistically significant difference (p<.078) Statistically significant difference (p<.012) Amplitude Perturbation Measurements: Pea tea key Mean Value Individual F-test ANOVA Significance ASD * CAS TD ASD & CAS ASD & TD CAS & TD Results: Time Related Measurements Results: Time Related Measurements CAS most variable Statistically significant difference (p<.02) ASD most variable Not a statistically significant difference (p<.136) ASD most variable Statistically significant difference (p<.046) ASD most variable Not a statistically significant difference (p<.267) Time Measurements: Pea tea key Spectrogram: TD Speaker Mean Value Individual F-test ANOVA Significance ASD * CAS TD ASD & CAS ASD & TD CAS & TD

6 Spectrogram: CAS Speaker Spectrogram: ASD speaker Spectrogram: ASD child, scas Conclusion ASD group presented with: Increased pitch across all tasks Lowest jitter % Lowest shimmer in db Increased time durations Implications References These empirical findings support that intervention for children with Autism should not focus only on pragmatics, MLU, and vocabulary, as is often the case. Rather, voice and motor speech treatment methodologies should be incorporated as appropriate to individuals with autism. Adams, L., (1998). Oral-motor and motor-speech characteristics of children with autism. Focus on Autism & Other Developmental Disabilities. 13(2), Baltaxe, C., & D'Angiola, N. (1992). Cohesion in the discourse interaction of autistic,specifically languageimpaired, and normal children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 22, Brook, S., & Bowler, D. (1992). Autism by another name? Semantic and pragmatic impairments in children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 22, Cohen, D. J., & Donnellan, A. M. (Eds.). (1987). Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders. Silver Spring, MD: V. H. Winston & Sons. Doyle, B.T. & Iland, E.D. (2004). Autism spectrum disorders from A to Z. Arlington, Future Horizons

7 Eskes G., Bryson, S., & McCormick, T. (1990). Comprehension of concrete and abstract words in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 20, Marili, K.E., Andrianopoulos, M.V., Velleman, S.L., & Foreman, C.G. (November 18, 2004) Incidence of motor speech impairment in autism and Aperger s disorders.paper presented at the American Speech- Hearing-Language Association Convention, Philadelphia. (Publication in negotiation). Noterdaeme, M., Mildenberger, K., Minow, F., & Amorosa, H. (2002). Evaluation of neuromotor deficits in children with autism and children with a specific speech and language disorder. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 11(5), Oshima-Takane, Y., & Baroya, S. (1989). An alternative view of pronominal errors in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 19, Paul, R. (1987). Communiation. In D. Cohen, A. Donnellan & R. Paul (Eds.), Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders ( ). Silver Spring, MD: V.H. Winston. Paul, R., Augustyn, A., Klin, A., & Volkmar, F.R. (2005). Perception and production of prosody by speakers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 35(2), Prizant, B.M. (1996). Brief report: Communication, language, social, and emotional development. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders. 26(2), Roberts, J. (1989). Echolalia and comprehension in autistic children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 19, Seal, B.C. & Bonivillian, J.D. (1997). Sign language and motor functioning in students with autistic disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 27(4), Spinelli, M. (1995). Word-finding difficulties, verbal paraphrasias, and verbal dyspraxia in ten individuals with Fragile X syndrome. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 60(1), Tager-Flusberg, H., Calkins, S., Nolin, T., Baumberger, T., Anderson, M., & Chadwick-Dias, A. (1990). A longitudinal study of language acquisition in autistic and Down Syndrome children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 20, Volden J., & Lord, C. (1991). Neologisms and idiosyncratic language in autistic speakers. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 21, Williams, P., & Stackhouse, J. (2000). Rate, accuracy and consistency: diadochokinetic performance of young, normally developing children. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics. 14(4), Williams, T. (1993). Vocabulary development in an autistic boy. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. 23, (cited by Adams, 1998). Zayac, D., Roberts, J.E., Hennon, E.A., Harris, A.A., Barnes, E.F. & Misenheimer, J. (2006). Articulation rate and vowel space characteristics of young males with Fragile X Syndrome: Preliminary acoustic findings. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research. 49,