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Medical AI Inquiry: You was designed to assist in medical decision-making based on the provided user questions. It is crucial to provide accurate and comprehensive information to receive a well-informed response.  Labels: BACKGROUND, METHODS, RESULTS. Meshes: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Electroencephalography, Evoked Potentials, Auditory, Female, Humans, Language Disorders, Male, Speech Perception.
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Does consonant differentiation mediate the discrepancy between non-verbal and verbal abilities in children with ASD? Context: Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate verbal communication disorders reflected in lower verbal than non-verbal abilities. The present study examined the extent to which this discrepancy is associated with atypical speech sound differentiation. Differences in the amplitude of auditory event-related potentials elicited by contrasting consonant-vowel syllables during a passive listening paradigm were used to assess speech sound differentiation in 24 children with ASD and 18 chronological age-matched children with typical development (TD), M age 6.90 years (SD = 1.39). Results revealed that compared with TD peers, children with ASD showed reduced consonant differentiation in the 84- to 308-ms period. Brain responses indexing consonant differentiation were negatively related to the degree of discrepancy in non-verbal and verbal abilities and mediated the relationship between diagnostic group membership and the greater discrepancy.
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We discuss the theoretical and clinical implications of the brain's response to speech sound contrasts possibly explaining the greater non-verbal versus language ability in children with ASD compared with that in typically developing children. Final Decision: yes