Comprehension of Spatial Demonstratives in 4- to 6-year-old Chinese-speaking Children with High-Functioning Autism

Our aim in this paper was to explore the developmental trajectory of comprehension of locative demonstrative pronouns “Zhe”( this) and “na” (that) in Mandarin Chinese in children with High-Functioning Autism (HFA) and typically development (TD) children between ages of 4 and 6. Using semi-structured interactive tasks, we designed three cuing settings, i.e., clueless, eye-gaze and pointing, each including the two locative conditions of on-the-same side and on-opposite-sides. It was found that (1)in clueless settings the 4- to 6-year-old HFA group performed less well than the TD group , and with gaze assisting the HFA group remained less capable in using them than their TD peers; (2) in the case that the speaker is located on the same side with the participant, the HFA group had greater difficulty understanding the demonstratives in clueless and gaze settings as compared with the TD group;and (3) the HFA group of 4 years of age and the TD group of 4 years of age had the pronoun-type effect, but the two groups reached congruence in understanding “zhe” and “na” when aided with pointing and gaze. These findings indicate that children with HFA are impaired in processing such information as gaze and location, which involves joint attention and the Theory of Mind (ToM). Nevertheless, children with HFA have relatively preserved ability in using highly conspicuous pointing for the non-verbal clue virtually compensates the impairment.

本研究旨在探究4至6岁高功能自闭症（High-Functioning Autism, HFA）儿童与典型发育（Typically Development, TD）儿童对汉语方位指示代词“这（Zhe）”与“那（na）”的理解发展轨迹。研究采用半结构化互动任务，设计了三类线索提示情境：无提示、视线提示与手指指向提示，每类情境均包含同侧与异侧两种方位条件。结果发现：（1）在无提示情境中，4-6岁高功能自闭症组的表现劣于典型发育组；即便辅以视线提示，高功能自闭症组在使用该类指示代词时的能力仍不及同龄典型发育儿童；（2）当说话者与参与者处于同侧时，高功能自闭症组在无提示与视线提示情境下理解方位指示代词的难度显著高于典型发育组；（3）4岁高功能自闭症组与4岁典型发育组均表现出代词类型效应，但在手指指向与视线提示的辅助下，两组对“这”与“那”的理解表现趋于一致。本研究结果表明，高功能自闭症儿童在加工涉及共同注意与心理理论（Theory of Mind, ToM）的视线与位置信息时存在缺损；不过，高功能自闭症儿童使用显著性较强的手指指向手势的能力相对保留，该非言语线索可在一定程度上弥补其信息加工缺损。