Person-centred (deictic) expressions and autism.
Kids with autism may point to the wrong toy when you say this—check both how they use and understand pointing words.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Sturmey et al. (2010) watched six kids with autism talk and listen.
They looked at how the kids used words like this, that, here, and there.
They also checked if the kids understood when other people used those same words.
What they found
The kids said this for far-away toys and that for close ones.
They missed head-nods and pointing cues that help typical kids know what this means.
Each child had a different pattern, so one size does not fit all.
How this fits with other research
Deliens et al. (2018) found adults with autism get indirect requests but miss irony.
Both studies show pragmatic language is spotty, not globally broken.
Flapper et al. (2013) showed boys with autism lag in receptive vocabulary.
Peter’s work adds that even tiny words like this and that can be part of that lag.
Fink et al. (2014) found emotion recognition is fine once verbal skill is matched.
Peter’s kids struggled with pointing words even when single-word vocabulary was okay, so the trouble is specific to deixis, not broad language.
Why it matters
When you test language, add quick deixis checks. Ask the child to hand you this block while you point to another. Watch if they follow your gaze and finger. Note any odd use of here or there in their own speech. These tiny mismatches can signal deeper social-cognitive gaps that standard vocabulary tests miss.
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Join Free →During your next session, place two toys at different distances and ask, Can you give me this one? while pointing. Record if the child picks the correct toy and how they later describe each item.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
We employed semi-structured tests to determine whether children with autism produce and comprehend deictic (person-centred) expressions such as 'this'/'that', 'here'/'there' and 'come'/'go', and whether they understand atypical non-verbal gestural deixis in the form of directed head-nods to indicate location. In Study 1, most participants spontaneously produced deictic terms, often in conjunction with pointing. Yet only among children with autism were there participants who referred to a location that was distal to themselves with the terms 'this' or 'here', or made atypical points with unusual precision, often lining-up with an eye. In Study 2, participants with autism were less accurate in responding to instructions involving contrastive deictic terms, and fewer responded accurately to indicative head nods.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2010 · doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0882-5