Neural basis of phonological processing and literacy in children with autism spectrum disoder

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K02952
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 09060:Special needs education-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshimura Yuko 金沢大学, 学校教育系, 准教授 (70597070)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 田中 早苗 金沢大学, 子どものこころの発達研究センター, 特任助教 (80811372)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 自閉スペクトラム症 / 聴覚誘発磁場 / 読み書き能力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

By conducting a longitudinal study from pre-school to school age on children with autism spectrum disorder, we investigated whether physiological data, representing early central processing of auditory information, could serve as indicators for predicting cognitive functions and literacy skills during the school years. The study involved 20 participants (15 boys and 5 girls), examining the relationship between brain responses to human voices before school (P1m) and literacy skills at school age. A significant negative correlation was found between the latency of P1m in the left hemisphere and the literacy scores. No significant correlations were observed for the amplitude of P1m or any indicators in the right hemisphere. It is suggested that in children with ASD who have reading difficulties, there may be immaturity in the development of brain regions involved in phonological processing during early childhood.

Free Research Field

特別支援教育

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究は、自閉スペクトラム症（ASD）の児童における早期聴覚情報処理の能力が学齢期の読み書き能力を予測する生物学的指標であることを示唆している。特に、聴覚誘発反応の潜時の速さが、後の読み能力と強く関連することから、ASD児の支援において音声や音韻に興味関心を持たせ、その処理機構にアプローチするような、個別化された教育プログラムの開発に貢献する可能性がある。