Spoken language involves more than the use of words: We vary our pitch, tempo, loudness and movements to emphasize words and change their meaning within a sentence. When we emphasize a word, it affects how the listener interprets it. This emphasis is one element of prosody of English speakers — the intonation, stress, and rhythm that tells the listener what's important in the sentence and brings clarity of meaning.
Claudia Abbiati ’13, G ‘15 wants to know how people on the autism spectrum move their lips and arms, particularly when emphasizing words in sentences. Many people on the autism spectrum find prosody difficult to hear, use or understand. This can lead to social and communication breakdowns.
“A lot of people on the autism spectrum have identifiable speech-motor differences [compared to the general population], not within their conscious control. This may impact social expression. If we can understand the differences, we can look at motor speech interventions and accommodations to one's speaking environment or situation. This must be determined by people on the autism spectrum,” said Abbiati, a speech-language pathologist and Ph.D. candidate in Interprofessional Health Sciences.
Abbiati conducts research in an UVM engineering lab using motion tracking technologies. Sensors attached to participants’ lips and reflective markers on their arms track their movements as they speak and gesture. Abbiati instructs the participants to repeat sentences — “The birds and the butterflies play by the pond,” or “Buy Bobby a puppy,” for example — and to emphasize particular words with their lips while a camera records them.
Abbiati charts the movements in a computer program that calculates measures of motor control, such as the speed and coordination of lip and arm movements and the velocity of gestures. She will compare this information to results of the same procedures done with people who are not on the autism spectrum. She plans to share the data with other clinicians and members of the autistic community to foster understanding of the lived experiences of individuals on the autism spectrum.
Abbiati’s research assistant, Kaitlin Vogen ’23, helps set up the motion tracking equipment and controls a camera during research sessions. Vogen helped Abbiati set up and test the technology last summer, with guidance from UVM engineering students.
The research is supported by the Organization for Autism Research. To design the study, Abbiati collaborated with UVM Autism Collective, a group of scientists, clinicians and community members dedicated to improving quality of life for people with autism.
“Neurologically-based differences in thinking, learning and communicating affect one in five people,” said collective member Melissa Houser, a family physician specializing in supporting children on the autism spectrum. “There are a lot of myths and assumptions about social and cognitive abilities among people with autism. I’m looking forward to providing clarity in these differences.”
Abbiati’s research is ongoing, and autistic adults are encouraged to participate. For more information or to participate, contact Claudia Abbiati.
