Linguistic deficits in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research project description

A PhD position is available at the Theoretical Linguistics Research Group in the Department of Catalan Philology from the Universitat Autònoma Barcelona under the supervision of Dr. Io Salmons Llussà and Dr. Anna Gavarró Algueró. We are looking for a highly motivated candidate who will conduct original research on experimental and clinical aspects of language in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with an emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches combining linguistics, psychology, and mental health research.

Individuals with ASD exhibit deficits in communication and social skills. Despite the fact that both communication and social interactions are largely mediated by language –and that language deficits have been shown to be a risk factor for mental health issues–, studies on the grammatical abilities of individuals with ASD remain scarce, and their results highly inconsistent (see Durrleman & Gavarró, 2018). Investigating language in ASD is crucial for identifying specific linguistic deficits, which is essential for incorporating language-based strategies into mental health care plans for individuals with ASD and, consequently, for developing more effective and integrative interventions.

The aim of this project is to assess, using different methods, whether the morphosyntactic features of tense and agreement are impaired in ASD. The delayed or impaired acquisition of some of these features has proven critical for the characterisation and diagnosis of other developmental disorders, such as Language Developmental Disorder (e.g. Rice & Wexler 1996), and can help determine the distinct linguistic characteristics across the autism spectrum. While previous findings have been inconsistent and cross-linguistic research remains limited, recent studies suggest that some of these features may serve as potential biomarkers for certain variants of ASD (Modyanova, Perovic & Wexler, 2018). The investigation will be carried out in Persian, a lesser studied language that exhibits grammatical characteristics suitable for testing relevant hypotheses. The successful candidate will be enrolled in the PhD Cognitive Science and Language doctoral program at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) as part of the TOUCH project. TOUCH (“Towards the next generatiOn of excellent yoUng doctoral researchers on mental health by developing an intersectoral & transdisciplinary approaCH”) is a new excellent doctoral programme co-funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) Actions of the European Commission and led by the UAB for the recruitment and training of 24 doctoral candidates in the field of mental health and wellbeing.

Academic background / Skills

The candidates must fulfil the following eligibility criteria from the EC: Mobility rule: Candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Spain for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately preceding the deadline for the programme call. Experience rule: Researchers must be doctoral candidates at the time of recruitment, i.e. not already in possession of a doctoral degree at the application deadline. Researchers who have successfully defended their doctoral thesis but have not yet formally been awarded the doctoral degree will not be considered eligible. Candidates must hold a degree that allows admission to the official doctoral programme at UAB.

Additional requirements for a stronger application are:

• Degree and master’s degree in linguistics, clinical/developmental linguistics, neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics or a related field
• Previous experience in designing and conducting experimental studies with people with disorders and/or children
• Proficiency in Persian

Other desirable criteria:

• Background in statistics

Interested applicants are encouraged to contact the investigators for further information io.salmons@uab.cat, anna.gavarro@uab.cat  

Research group/s description

The Centre for Theoretical Linguistics (CLT), a research and studies centre at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, has as its goal the study of language and natural languages from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. Our overarching purpose is to contribute to a better understanding of how natural languages are structured and how they are processed by human beings.

Our research activities also include studies on acquisition and language impairment. The Acquisition and Pathology Lab, part of the CLT, focuses on the study of acquired and developmental language pathologies and disorders, and language deficits in non-linguistic disorders. Our goals are to describe the linguistic deficits in different types of disorders and to identify potential linguistic diagnostic markers to develop assessment and diagnostic tools. Linguistic deficits are often overlooked in mental health, despite the fact that they can have a huge impact on the patients’ mental health and be very disabling.