Temporal Coordination and Prosodic Structure in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Timing Across Speech and Non-speech Motor Domains

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit disordered speech prosody, but sources of disordered prosody remain poorly understood. We explored patterns of temporal alignment and prosodic grouping in a speech-based metronome repetition task as well as manual coordination in a drum tapping task among Cantonese speakers with ASD and normal nonverbal IQ and matched controls. Results indicate similar group results for prosodic grouping patterns, but significant differences in relative timing and longer syllable durations at phrase ends for the ASD group. Variability on the speech task was significantly correlated with variability on the drumming task, consistent with the view that impairment in both speech and non-speech motor domains can be linked with deficits in temporal processing.

Automated summary

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often demonstrate disordered speech prosody, particularly in timing and syllable durations. This study found significant differences in relative timing and syllable durations at phrase ends for the ASD group, as well as a correlation between variability in speech and drumming tasks, suggesting deficits in temporal processing in both speech and non-speech motor domains.