@inproceedings{01HJGA4B4YYM4YDY5F5YXNAQVS,
  abstract     = {{Introduction: Little is known about the background and characteristics of speech (dis)fluency co-occurring with neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism. In a previous study, we observed that in addition to the characteristics usually observed in stuttering, autistic adults produced other disfluency features, such as word-final disfluencies and atypical insertions (Pirinen et al., 2023). The aim of this study is to present these features in more detail in three persons who experienced a considerable amount of these atypical disfluencies as well as other perseverative features, such as palilalia.
Methods: The cases of this study (C1, C2, & C3) were autistic young adults with a General Ability Index above 70. Based on a narrative speech sample, speech disfluencies were analyzed and categorized as stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD), other disfluencies (OD), and atypical disfluencies (AD).
Results: Disfluency frequencies per 100 syllables for each case were as follows: 5.6 SLD, 5.6 OD, and 7.9 AD for C1, 2.3 SLD, 6.9 OD, and 1.9 AD for C2, and 8.2 SLD, 10.1 OD, and .24 AD for C3. In addition to disfluency types frequently observed in typical speech and/or stuttering, each participant produced atypical disfluencies. C1 and C2 produced prolongations and repetitions in word-final positions, and C3 produced excessive phrase repetitions, which reflected features of palilalia. Each of the abovementioned disfluency types reflected patterns of repetitive and/or involuntary movements.
Discussion: While some disfluency characteristics observed in autistic persons are similar to what is typically seen in developmental stuttering, others clearly differ. Difficulties in terminating sounds in word-final positions and continuous perseveration could be indicative of a more widespread inflexibility and perseveration problem. The findings of this study will increase our understanding of how these different types of repetitive and perseverative behavior in autistic persons are manifested in their speech production.}},
  author       = {{Pirinen, Veera and Loukusa, Soile and Dindar, Katja and Mäkinen, Leena and Hurtig, Tuula and Jussila, Katja and Mattila, Marja-Leena and Eggers, Kurt}},
  booktitle    = {{2023 Oxford Dysfluency Conference, Abstracts}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Oxford, UK}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  title        = {{Are stuttering-like disfluencies in people with autism part of a wider perseveration problem? A case study of three young adults}},
  url          = {{https://www.dysfluencyconference.com/conference-programme.html}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}