Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Impairment in communication is one of the core deficits in individuals with autism and one of the key features distinguishing between autism and Asperger syndrome (AS). Research suggests that comprehension and production of language require integration of both what is seen and what is heard during speech. Current research suggests that this may be a challenge in individuals with autism, but may remain intact in those with AS. This indicates that intermodal speech perception may be a key feature in differentiating between the two disorders, which is a top priority in the development of the DSM-V. The proposed study will use 3 different intermodal speech-processing tasks to compare 4 groups of school-age children: autism, AS, intellectual disabled, and typically developing controls. The first goal of this study is to determine if these tasks can differentiate those from autism from those with AS and the two comparison groups. The second goal is to determine if training that targets intermodal perception skills can lead to improved performance on these tasks in individuals with autism. Training will involve using an eye-tracker to determine where the participants are looking and reinforcing them when they are looking at the matching video. Finally, I hope to use EEG to determine which parts of the brain are activated during these tasks in those with autism compared with those with AS. If the hypotheses are supported, these tasks could be used as potential screeners for at risk infants and to differentiate between individuals with autism and those with AS. Currently it is difficult to detect autism before the age of 2, yet treatment is most effective when started early, thus early detection of autism is imperative. This information is also important for guiding treatment plans as results may suggest that treatment should focus on teaching children with autism how to attend to the intermodal components of speech, before attempting to train more complex behaviours.