Autistic boys with language impairment have brain structures different from autistic boys with normal language abilities, researchers have found.

A study in the current online edition of Annals of Neurology found that a language center in the brain -- Broca's area -- is apparently normal in autistic boys whose language skills are normal.

By contrast, autistic boys with language problems suffer brain abnormalities that match those seen in non-autistic boys who have a rare disorder called Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Children with SLI have delayed language development, but their cognitive and social-emotional development proceeds normally.

The research supports the idea that autism is less a single disorder, and more a grouping of related disorders with overlapping symptoms, said lead researcher Gordon Harris of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

"This study is the first to show a direct, brain-based link between autism, SLI and language ability," Harris said in a prepared statement.

In the study, Harris and his colleagues used MRI to compare the brain language areas of autistic boys with and without language impairment.

The researchers found the degree of language impairment was related to the degree of abnormality in the Broca's area portion of the brain.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about autism.

Reference Source 101
October 14, 2004

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