Coding Conventions for Unconventional Language: A Reliability Study, 2023

"Unconventional language describes spoken utterances that are idiosyncratic in nature and do not follow neurotypical social conventions surrounding the form, content, and/or use of language. These language forms are of high interest to autistic individuals and their families, in addition to autism researchers, clinicians, and educators. Luyster, Zane, and Wisman Weil (2022) suggested an operational framework to describe and categorize these language forms, but further study is required to assess the clinical utility of the framework. In this study, we used Luyster and colleagues' (2022) framework to provide differential levels of instruction to previously untrained research assistants, who were then tasked with identifying and coding for unconventional language in videos and transcribed language samples. Our findings were mixed, suggesting that increased training and exposure had some impact on accurate identification of unconventional language, but was not consistent. Further study into the degree of training required, and further study in strengthening the operational framework, is warranted." -- Abstract