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Speaker Versus Listener-Oriented Disfluency

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Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Definition

Deficits in pragmatic language and social communication are characteristic of verbal individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Disfluencies are pauses and interruptions, which break the continuity of speech outputs. Disfluencies are often classified into different categories, primarily including pauses, repetitions, and repairs. These disfluencies are produced by all people in the normal course of speaking, and estimates place their occurrence at 6–10 per 100 words produced. Crucially, these disfluencies are distinguished from “dysfluency,” which refers to pathological fluency issues (i.e., stuttering or stammering). However, it is important to note that several reports have indicated stuttering-like disfluency in some individuals with ASD (see Scott 2015).

Disfluencies may serve pragmatic purposes in that they cue problems within the speaker for the benefit of the listener. Speaker-oriented disfluencies are thought to be due to speaker-internal factors (i.e.,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, UK

    Paul Edward Engelhardt

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  1. Paul Edward Engelhardt
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Correspondence to Paul Edward Engelhardt .

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  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

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Engelhardt, P.E. (2020). Speaker Versus Listener-Oriented Disfluency. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102369-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102369-1

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