[Truncted abstract] A number of studies have provided evidence that individuals with autism have poor semantic processing of verbal information, instead gaining greater meaning from pictorial information. The aims of this thesis were, to firstly, investigate the verbal and pictorial encoding abilities of children with autism, and secondly, to determine the extent to which limitations in the use of inner speech may drive any encoding differences. The first study investigated the notion that children with autism have an atypical verbal processing style, showing poor semantic but enhanced phonological encoding of verbal stimuli. The experiment compared the performance of children with autism and ability-matched controls (N = 20 in each group) on a novel explicit verbal recall task that contained 20 word stimuli. Recall performance could be benefited through, in one condition, an understanding of the semantic links between the stimuli, and in another condition, an understanding of the phonological similarities between the stimuli. The design of the recall task controlled for the possibility that children with autism have poor retrieval strategies (by providing either a semantic or phonological retrieval cue) and hence maximized the likelihood that any between-groups differences in performance would be related to problems at the encoding stage. There was no difference between the two groups. Follow up comparisons revealed that the performance of the autism group was consistent with that of typically developing children of the same chronological age. The idea that individuals with autism have increased facility for processing pictorial information (Kamio & Toichi, 2000) was then investigated.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Ashland Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 227-245).

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2008. / Title from title page. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online through Digital Dissertations.

Thèse (M.Ed.) -- Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 2004. / Bibliogr.: f. [213]-218. Document électronique également accessible en format PDF. CaQCU

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of California, Davis, 2006. / Text document in PDF format. Title from PDF title page (viewed on September 1, 2009). "Received by ITS-Davis: September 2006"--Publication detail webpage. Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-78).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1994. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 205-213).

Thesis (Th. M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 38-39).

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 121-127).