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Exploring Maze Patterns in Bilingual and Monolingual Children With and Without Autism: A Pragmatic Perspective.

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Title: Exploring Maze Patterns in Bilingual and Monolingual Children With and Without Autism: A Pragmatic Perspective.
Authors: Beradze, Marianna1 beradzem@gmail.com, Fichman, Sveta1,2, Meir, Natalia1,3
Source: Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research. Feb2026, Vol. 69 Issue 2, p462-482. 21p.
Subject Terms: *Statistical correlation, *Data analysis, *Autism, *Multilingualism, *Theory of mind, *Research, *Memory, *Asperger's syndrome, *Speech disorders, *Comparative studies, *Children, Speech, Kruskal-Wallis Test, Descriptive statistics, Analysis of variance, Statistics, Data analysis software
Abstract: Purpose: Monolingual autistic children show distinct patterns of linguistic mazes (disfluencies), such as fewer filled pauses (e.g., "uh," "um") and utterance-initial connectives (e.g., "and"), than non-autistic peers. Maze types are multifunctional, but some (e.g., filled pauses) are used primarily for pragmatic, listener-oriented purposes such as signaling an upcoming delay, while others (e.g., repetitions) reflect speaker-internal processes such as lexical retrieval. This study examined the separate and combined effects of autism and bilingualism on children's maze production, exploring whether different types are primarily listener- or speaker-oriented, thereby contributing to the ongoing debate about their function in spontaneous speech. Method: Four groups of children aged 5-9 years participated: bilingual Russian--Hebrew autistic (n = 20), bilingual non-autistic (n = 27), monolingual Hebrew autistic (n = 17), and monolingual non-autistic (n = 22). Narratives, elicited using the LITMUS Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives, were analyzed for various maze types. Results: The results indicated that while autism and bilingualism alone did not predict maze rate, their joint influence systematically interacted with specific maze types. Monolingual autistic children showed higher rates of phonological fragments, inter-utterance silent pauses, and prolongations, but lower rates of the utterance-initial connectives ve "and" and filled pauses than non-autistic peers. Bilinguals in both groups produced more intra-utterance silent pauses. Among autistic children, bilinguals used connectives more often but produced fewer prolongations and inter-utterance silent pauses than monolinguals. Conclusion: Bilingualism may enhance communicative adaptability in autistic children by strengthening narrative cohesion through greater use of connectives and fewer inter-utterance silent pauses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Education Research Complete
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  Data: Exploring Maze Patterns in Bilingual and Monolingual Children With and Without Autism: A Pragmatic Perspective.
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Beradze%2C+Marianna%22">Beradze, Marianna</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> beradzem@gmail.com</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fichman%2C+Sveta%22">Fichman, Sveta</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Meir%2C+Natalia%22">Meir, Natalia</searchLink><relatesTo>1,3</relatesTo>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Speech%2C+Language+%26+Hearing+Research%22">Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research</searchLink>. Feb2026, Vol. 69 Issue 2, p462-482. 21p.
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  Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistical+correlation%22">Statistical correlation</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis%22">Data analysis</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Autism%22">Autism</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Multilingualism%22">Multilingualism</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Theory+of+mind%22">Theory of mind</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Research%22">Research</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Memory%22">Memory</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Asperger's+syndrome%22">Asperger's syndrome</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Speech+disorders%22">Speech disorders</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Comparative+studies%22">Comparative studies</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Children%22">Children</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Speech%22">Speech</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Kruskal-Wallis+Test%22">Kruskal-Wallis Test</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Descriptive+statistics%22">Descriptive statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Analysis+of+variance%22">Analysis of variance</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistics%22">Statistics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Data+analysis+software%22">Data analysis software</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
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  Data: Purpose: Monolingual autistic children show distinct patterns of linguistic mazes (disfluencies), such as fewer filled pauses (e.g., "uh," "um") and utterance-initial connectives (e.g., "and"), than non-autistic peers. Maze types are multifunctional, but some (e.g., filled pauses) are used primarily for pragmatic, listener-oriented purposes such as signaling an upcoming delay, while others (e.g., repetitions) reflect speaker-internal processes such as lexical retrieval. This study examined the separate and combined effects of autism and bilingualism on children's maze production, exploring whether different types are primarily listener- or speaker-oriented, thereby contributing to the ongoing debate about their function in spontaneous speech. Method: Four groups of children aged 5-9 years participated: bilingual Russian--Hebrew autistic (n = 20), bilingual non-autistic (n = 27), monolingual Hebrew autistic (n = 17), and monolingual non-autistic (n = 22). Narratives, elicited using the LITMUS Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives, were analyzed for various maze types. Results: The results indicated that while autism and bilingualism alone did not predict maze rate, their joint influence systematically interacted with specific maze types. Monolingual autistic children showed higher rates of phonological fragments, inter-utterance silent pauses, and prolongations, but lower rates of the utterance-initial connectives ve "and" and filled pauses than non-autistic peers. Bilinguals in both groups produced more intra-utterance silent pauses. Among autistic children, bilinguals used connectives more often but produced fewer prolongations and inter-utterance silent pauses than monolinguals. Conclusion: Bilingualism may enhance communicative adaptability in autistic children by strengthening narrative cohesion through greater use of connectives and fewer inter-utterance silent pauses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Speech, Language & Hearing Research is the property of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.1044/2025_JSLHR-25-00255
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 21
        StartPage: 462
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Statistical correlation
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Autism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Multilingualism
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Theory of mind
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Research
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Memory
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Asperger's syndrome
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Speech disorders
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      – SubjectFull: Comparative studies
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      – SubjectFull: Children
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Speech
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Kruskal-Wallis Test
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Descriptive statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Analysis of variance
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Statistics
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Data analysis software
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Exploring Maze Patterns in Bilingual and Monolingual Children With and Without Autism: A Pragmatic Perspective.
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            NameFull: Beradze, Marianna
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            NameFull: Fichman, Sveta
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              Text: Feb2026
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              Y: 2026
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