Abstract
Autism is a childhood disorder diagnosed primarily in the presence of severe social unresponsiveness in the first 3 years of life (Volkmar, 1987). Since speech exerts a prepotent attraction on the attention of normally developing infants, hence facilitating social engagement, we designed a technique to examine whether this inborn reaction could be at fault in young autistic children. They were given a choice between their mothers' speech and the noise of superimposed voices (a sound effect obtained in a busy canteen). Data were obtained utilizing a specially designed automated and computerized device which recorded the children's responses in their own homes. In contrast to comparison groups of mentally retarded and normally developing children who showed the expected strong preference for their mothers' speech, the autistic children actively preferred the alternative sound or showed a lack of preference for either audio segment. These results suggest that such abnormal reactions to speech are a feature of these children's overall disregard to people.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alegria, J., & Noirot, E. (1978). Neonate orientation behavior towards human voice.International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1, 291–312.
American Psychiatric Association. (1980).Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Bates, E., Benigni, L., Camaioni, L., Bretherton, I., & Volterra, V. (1979).The emergence of symbols: Cognition and communication in infancy. New York: Academic Press.
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979).The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Butterfield, E. C., & Cairns, G. F. (1976). The infant's auditory environment. In T. D. Tjossem (Ed.),Intervention strategies for high risk infants and young children. Baltimore: University Press.
Butterfield, E. C., & Siperstein, G. N. (1972). Influence of contingent auditory stimulation upon non-nutritional suckle. In J. Bosma (Ed.),Oral sensation and perception: The mouth of the infant. Springfield, IL: CC Thomas.
Clancy, H., & McBride, G. (1969). The autistic process and its treatment.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 233–244.
Cohen, D. J., Paul, R., & Volkmar, F. R. (1986). Issues in the classification of pervasive and other developmental disorders: Towards DSM-IV.Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 213–220.
Dahl, E. K., Cohen, D. J., & Provence, S. (1986). Clinical and multivariate approaches to the nosology of pervasive developmental disorders.Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 170–180.
DeCasper, A. J., & Fifer, W. P. (1980). Of human bonding: Newborns prefer their mothers' voices.Science, 208, 1174–1176.
Eimas, P. D., Siqueland, E. R., Jusczyk, P., & Vigorito, J. (1971). Speech perception in infants.Science, 171, 303–306.
Eisenberg, R. (1969). Auditory behaviour in the human neonate: Functional properties of sound and their ontogenetic implications.International Audiology, 8, 34–45.
Eisenberg, R. (1970). The organisation of auditory behaviour.Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 13, 453–471.
Eisenberg, R. (1976).Auditory competence in early life: The roots of communicative behavior. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.
Eisenberg, R. B. (1979). Stimulus significance as a determinant of infant responses to sound. In E. B. Thomas (Ed.),Origins of infant's social responsiveness. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Fein, D., Pennington, B., Markowitz, P., Braverman, M., & Waterhouse, L. (1986). Towards a neuropsychological model of infantile autism: Are the social deficits primary?Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 25, 198–212.
Friedlander, B. Z. (1966). Three manipulanda for the study of human infants' operant play.Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour, 9, 47–49.
Friedlander, B. Z. (1979). Finding facts of value and value in facts. In A. Simmons-Martin & D. R. Calvert (Eds.),Parent infant intervention: Communication disorders. New York: Grune & Stratton.
Hutt, S. J., Hutt, C., Lenard, H. G. Bernuth, H. V., & Muntjewerff, W. (1968). Auditory responsivity in the human neonate.Nature, 21, 888–890.
Kanner, L. (1943). Autistic disturbances of affective contact.Nervous Child, 2, 217–250.
Klin, A. (1988).The emergence of self, symbolic functions and early infantile autism. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of London.
Koegel, R. L., & Schreibman, L. (1976). Identification of consistent responding to auditory stimuli by a functionally “deaf” autistic child.Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 6, 147–156.
Leiter, R. G. (1980).Leiter International Performance Scale, instruction manual. Chicago: Stoelting.
Lowell, M. (1972). Audiological assessment. In E. R. Ritvo (Ed.),Autism: Diagnosis, current research and management. New York: Spectrum.
Mills, M., & Melhuish, E. (1974). Recognition of mother's voice in early infancy.Nature, 252, 123–124.
O'Connor, N., & Hermelin, B. (1967). The selective visual attention of psychotic children.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 167–179.
Ornitz, E. M., Guthrie, D., & Farley, A. J. (1977). Early development of autistic children.Journal of Autism and Childhood Schizophrenia, 7, 207–229.
Prior, M. R., & Gajzago, C. (1974, August 3). Recognition of early signs of autism.Medical Journal of Australia.
Rowlands, P. (1972).The fugitive mind: The early development of an autistic child. London: J. M. Dent.
Rutter, M. (1968). Concepts of autism: A review of research.Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 9, 1–25.
Rutter, M. (1978). Diagnosis and definition. In M. Rutter & E. Schopler (Eds.),Autism: A reappraisal of concepts and treatment. New York: Plenum Press.
Rutter, M., Greenfeld, D., & Lockyer, L. (1967). A five to fifteen year follow-up of infantile psychosis: II. Social and behavioural outcome.British Journal of Psychiatry, 113, 1183–1189.
Sherrod, L. R. (1981). Issues in cognitive-perceptual development: The special case of social stimuli. In M. E. Lam & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.),Infant social cognition: Empirical and theoretical considerations. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Siegel, B., Vukicevic, J., Elliot, G. R., & Kraemer, H. C. (1989). The use of signal detection theory to assess DSM-III-R criteria for autistic disorder.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 542–548.
Siegel, S., & Castellan, N. J., Jr. (1988).Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Tukey, J. W. (1977).Explanatory data analysis. New York: Addison Wesley.
Volkmar, F. R. (1987). Social development. In D. J. Cohen, A. M. Donnellan, & R. Paul (Eds.),Handbook of autism and pervasive developmental disorders. New York: Wiley.
Volkmar, F. R., Cohen, D. J., Bregman, J. D., Hooks, M. Y., & Stevenson, J. M. (1989). An examination of social typologies in autism.Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 82–86.
Wing, L. (1988). The continuum of autistic characteristics. In E. Schopler & G. Mesibov (Eds.),Diagnosis and assessment in autism. New York: Plenum Press.
Wing, L., & Gould, J. (1979). Severe impairments of social interaction and associated abnormalities in children: Epidemiology and classification.Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 9, 11–29.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
The present study was first reported as part of doctoral research carried out at the University of London in 1988. I am grateful to Rob Farr from the Department of Social Psychology, LSE, and to John Morton and Uta Frith from the MRC Cognitive Development Unit for their support and guidance. I am also indebted to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The study was made possible by the kind cooperation of the CDC, Charing Cross Hospital, Jack Tizard School, Hammersmith, and the Under-5s conference of the National Autistic Society. I am especially thankful to the children and families for their enthusiastic participation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Klin, A. Young autistic children's listening preferences in regard to speech: A possible characterization of the symptom of social withdrawal. J Autism Dev Disord 21, 29–42 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02206995
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02206995