Metropolitan College lecturer Dr. Andrey Vyshedskiy, who teaches Neuroscience of Human Cognition: Imagination, Language, and Consciousness (MET BI 366), has published new research that indicates that children with autism may have a shorter window to develop a command of complex language than neurotypical peers.
“A long-standing question in autism research concerns why some individuals never fully acquire syntactic comprehension, a limitation that often leads to lifelong difficulties with independent living and employment,” he told PsyPost. “Two competing explanations have been proposed. One suggests a persistent, lifelong barrier that consistently slows learning at every age.”
But for Vyshedskiy, an expert in childhood cognitive development, the neurological basis of imagination, and evolution of language, his research suggests that an alternative explanation is more likely.
“The other proposes that there is a critical period during which the brain is especially capable of acquiring the neurocognitive mechanisms needed for syntactic comprehension, and that this critical period may be shorter in autism,” he says.
Read more in PsyPost.