Specific language impairment

Recent articles

Test gauges autistic children’s verbal abilities in natural settings

An interactive assessment allows clinicians and researchers to evaluate an autistic child's use of language in everyday social situations.

By Taylor White
18 November 2020 | 3 min read
silhouette of head with illustrated text

Social communication in autism, explained

Communication problems have always been considered a core feature of autism. Yet there are substantial and wide-ranging differences in how people with autism communicate.

By Lydia Denworth
19 April 2018 | 5 min read
animation: a child sits between two parents who are talking to each other. The child looks confused or worried.

Where communication breaks down for people with autism

People on the spectrum often have subtle problems using language or making facial expressions. Pinpointing where those difficulties originate may help ease their social communication.

By Lydia Denworth
18 April 2018 | 17 min read

Why no one needs a diagnosis of ‘social communication disorder’

A diagnosis of social communication disorder only keeps people from a community and resources they desperately want and need.

By Helen Tager-Flusberg
17 April 2018 | 1 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Should scientists study mothers of children with autism?

Studying parents of children with autism has long been controversial, but that doesn’t mean scientists should avoid it.

By Helen Tager-Flusberg
12 April 2016 | 1 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Powerful memory system may compensate for autism’s deficits

A brain system called declarative memory may help people learn scripts and strategies that alleviate autism symptoms, say Michael Ullman and Mariel Pullman.

By Michael Ullman, Mariel Pullman
17 March 2015 | 9 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Toddlers with autism show few symptoms during brief exams

Many toddlers with autism display so few abnormal behaviors during short doctor visits that they may evade the diagnostic eye of even expert clinicians.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
23 January 2015 | 2 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Social language lapses hint at syndrome distinct from autism

Some siblings of children with autism have social language impairments that may signal another, more controversial disorder.

By Katie Moisse
4 November 2014 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Scaled-down device detects brain activity in children

A new device designed to conduct magneto-electroencephalography in children younger than 3 years is ideal for detecting early signs of autism, researchers reported 3 March in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 

By Jessica Wright
23 April 2014 | 2 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Loss of language gene enhances pitch discrimination in mice

Mice lacking the autism-linked gene CNTNAP2 process sounds more slowly than control mice do but are better at discriminating between tones. The unpublished research was presented Tuesday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
12 November 2013 | 3 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

A stack of papers topped by many paper shreddings against a red background.

Exclusive: Springer Nature retracts, removes nearly 40 publications that trained neural networks on ‘bonkers’ dataset

The dataset contains images of children’s faces downloaded from websites about autism, which sparked concerns at Springer Nature about consent and reliability.

By Calli McMurray
8 December 2025 | 5 min read
Research image of a virtual environment simulating an animal’s viewpoint close to the ground.

Seeing the world as animals do: How to leverage generative AI for ecological neuroscience

Generative artificial intelligence will offer a new way to see, simulate and hypothesize about how animals experience their worlds. In doing so, it could help bridge the long-standing gap between neural function and behavior.

By Shahab Bakhtiari
8 December 2025 | 8 min read

Psilocybin rewires specific mouse cortical networks in lasting ways

Neuronal activity induced by the psychedelic drug strengthens inputs from sensory brain areas and weakens cortico-cortical recurrent loops.

By Siddhant Pusdekar
5 December 2025 | 0 min watch

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