Unconventional language in autism spectrum disorder : associations with child characteristics and adult outcomes, 2018

"Children with autism spectrum disorder often use unconventional language (e.g., echolalia, stereotyped speech). However, based on the existing literature, it remains unclear whether unconventional language is best understood as a marker of developmental achievement or a problematic behavior. The present investigation is comprised of three smaller studies, each using an existing longitudinal dataset. Study 1 revealed that young children with high levels of clinician-observed unconventional language had higher social communication skills. However, Study 2 highlighted a number of discrepancies between parent- and clinician-reported unconventional language and measures of language, cognition, adaptive functioning, and repetitive behaviors. Study 3 indicated that higher levels of parent-reported stereotyped language predicted lower adaptive skills in early adulthood, while higher levels of parent-reported neologisms and idiosyncratic language predicted higher functional language skills. This work has important implications for the measurement and conceptualization of unconventional language." --Abstract.