Understanding Prosody in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Kayla Poggi, Verrazzano Class of 2025, completed major in English Linguistics and minor in ASL

Throughout the completion of my capstone project, I learned things that will be beneficial to my future career as a Speech Language Pathologist, and learned more about Autism Spectrum.
For example, understanding prosody, which refers to the rhythm, pitch, volume, and intonation of speech, and plays an essential role in how we convey meaning, emotion, and intent in communication. In autism, prosody can be affected in various ways, which may lead to differences in how speech sounds to others. Many individuals with autism experience differences in prosody, such as monotone speech, which is a lack of variation in pitch, atypical speech rhythm, or inappropriate stress on words. These differences can sometimes make it harder for others to interpret their emotional state, intentions, or level of engagement.
This research taught me how social communication can have its challenges for someone with autism. The differences in prosody in individuals with autism may contribute to challenges in social communication. For instance, their speech might not align with social expectations of tone, such as speaking too loudly or softly, which can affect social interactions and lead to misunderstandings.
Prosody in autism could be due to difficulties in both producing and perceiving prosodic cues. Research could focus on whether individuals with autism struggle more with prosodic production (e.g., monotone speech) or perception (e.g., difficulty recognizing emotional tones in speech).
In addition to learning about prosody and how it impacts individuals with autism, I also learned a great deal about writing an in-depth research paper. I learned about writing structure, paying attention to details and making sure what I am writing aligns with my evidence. I learned how to do research on certain databases, handling citations, and how best to utilize my sources.
If I continued research on this topic, I think it could be further developed by observing people with autism in a social setting and focusing on expressive and receptive language.