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DESCRIPTION: \n\n \n\nThe CRBLM is pleased to present an upcoming symposium
  on language and autism\, featuring talks by Emily Zane (James Madison Uni
 versity)\, Alexia Ostrolenk (Autism Alliance of Canada/Université de Montr
 éal)\, and Aparna Nadig (McGill University).\n\nThe event will also includ
 e a poster session on innovative methods for exploring language and commun
 ication across populations (abstract submission still open until May 19th!
 ) and break-out discussion sessions.\n\nWhen: Tuesday\, June 16 \, 2026\, 
 9:30am-3:00pm\n\nWhere: CRBLM offices (2001 McGill College Avenue\, 6th fl
 oor)\n\nLunch and refreshments will be served. \n\nLa présentation se fera
  en anglais mais il sera possible de participer en français via interpreta
 tion informelle des questions. \n\n \n\nRegister here.\n\n \n\nSchedule:\n
 \n9:30-10:00 Coffee reception and welcome\n\n10:00-10:15 Emily Zane — Conc
 eptual framework for the day (important setup to contextualize the three t
 alks)\n\n10:20-11:00 (30 min talk\, 10 min Q+A) Alexia Ostrolenk — Atypica
 l routes to language acquisition in autistic children\n\n11:00-11:10 Break
  \n\n11:10-11:50 Aparna Nadig — Learning language from social input in aut
 ism and expressive language strengths in multilingual adolescents\n\n11:50
  -1:30 Lunch and networking & Poster session — Innovative methods for expl
 oring language and communication across populations (contributions from th
 e CRBLM community)\n\n1:30-2:10 Emily Zane — Do fluent autistic speakers s
 hare a “Linguatype?”\n\n2:10-2:20 Break\n\n2:20-3:00 Break-out discussion 
 sessions: Responding to needs raised by shifts in understanding autistic l
 anguage at different communication levels\n\n \n\n \n\nSpeakers:\n\n \n\nA
 lexia Ostrolenk (she/her) is a postdoctoral fellow at the Autism Alliance 
 of Canada\, in partnership with Unity Health Toronto. In September 2026\, 
 she will join the Department of Psychiatry and Addictology at Université d
 e Montréal as an Assistant Professor. Her research focuses on reading and 
 language development in autistic children\, with an emphasis on bridging s
 cientific inquiry and real-world practice. An engaged science communicator
 \, she is also the co-founder of ComSciCon-QC\, which has provided free sc
 ience communication training to over 300 francophone graduate students in 
 Quebec since 2020.\n\n \n\nAtypical routes to language acquisition in auti
 stic children: How do autistic children come to language? This presentatio
 n explores alternative developmental pathways to communication in autism. 
 While language development is often understood as fundamentally social\, s
 ome autistic children appear to access language through different routes. 
 Drawing on research on early interest in written language and unexpected b
 ilingualism\, I examine how some children may enter language through pathw
 ays that differ from typical developmental trajectories. These alternative
  pathways challenge conventional assumptions about how language should dev
 elop and call for a shift in intervention practices. Rather than treating 
 these trajectories as deviations to be corrected\, they can be understood 
 as meaningful entry points into communication. This perspective highlights
  the importance of building on children’s existing strengths and interests
  as a foundation for intervention. It also has practical implications for 
 supporting families\, helping them recognize\, interpret\, and engage with
  their child’s unique ways of communicating.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nEmily Zane 
 is an associate professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at James
  Madison University in Harrisonburg\, Virginia. She is a linguist\, whose 
 research focuses on language expression\, understanding\, and processing b
 y older autistic children and adults. \n\n \n\nDo fluent autistic speakers
  share a “Linguatype?”: In traditional accounts of autism\, various identi
 fiable features of autistic language – e.g.\, echolalia – are interpreted 
 as linguistic errors attributable to an underlying language impairment. Ev
 en autistic people who speak fluently have sometimes been described as exh
 ibiting a “hidden” or “subclinical” deficit\, because their spontaneous la
 nguage contains relatively frequent unconventional semantic and morphosynt
 actic features. After quickly reviewing these accounts\, I then explore an
  alternative account\, grounded in linguistics\, where these semantic and 
 morphosyntactic features are considered as identifiable patterns associate
 d with an autistic “linguatype” (Zane & Grossman\, 2024\; Zane & Luyster\,
  2025) – that is\, a valid linguistic code shared across autistic speakers
  – somewhat akin to a dialect. To demonstrate how this reinterpretation dr
 astically changes implications of difference in autistic language use\, I 
 specifically apply the framework to one language pattern that has been ass
 ociated with autism since the earliest accounts of the condition: The rela
 tively frequent creation of invented words (neologisms). I will show how r
 econsidering autistic neologisms as meaningful lexemes\, rather than langu
 age mistakes\, can yield insights into autistic language and thought. \n\n
  \n\n \n\n \n\nAparna Nadig is an Associate Professor at McGill University
  in the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. Her lab studies la
 nguage development\, social communication and social cognition through an 
 intersectional lens\, focusing on people on the autism spectrum as well as
  neurotypicals\, and on bilinguals/minority language speakers. In partners
 hip with autistic collaborators\, practitioners\, and community organizati
 ons\, her applied lines of work strive to improve social inclusion for peo
 ple on the autism spectrum and their families.\n\n \n\nLearning language f
 rom social input in autism and expressive language strengths in multilingu
 al adolescents\n\nChildren on the autism spectrum have highly varied spoke
 n language profiles\, with approximately 40% exhibiting skills in the norm
 al range or above. In this talk I will focus on this subgroup of the autis
 m spectrum who have age-expected spoken language skills. Since many other 
 children on the autism spectrum face significant communication challenges\
 , and reduced early social attention is a defining feature of autism\, lea
 rning from the spoken language input in the child’s social environment may
  not necessarily be expected. In the first part of the talk I will review 
 work from my and others’ labs on the nature of the language input availabl
 e to toddlers and preschoolers on the autism spectrum\, relative to that o
 f typically-developing children. I will also present evidence indicating t
 hat children on the spectrum who have participated in research studies\, w
 hen examined as a group\, do in fact make use of the language they hear\, 
 and benefit from lexically rich and syntactically complex input\, as do ty
 pically developing children.\n\nLearning multiple languages may\, on the s
 urface\, seem like an even more unlikely possibility in autism\, given the
  aforementioned social and communication challenges. This has lead to a co
 mmonly held belief that bilingualism could further delay language developm
 ent in children on the spectrum\; yet a body of research demonstrates that
  there is no such additional delay. In the second part of the talk\, I wil
 l review evidence from my and other’s labs showing that this subgroup of c
 hildren on the spectrum can become proficiently bilingual when adequate la
 nguage exposure is provided. I will also share recent data from multilingu
 al adolescents showcasing their sophisticated expressive language skills a
 nd sharing their self-declared linguistic identity and proficiencies.\n\n 
 \n
DTSTART:20260616T133000Z
DTEND:20260616T193000Z
LOCATION:CRBLM (6th floor\, room 606)\, McGill College 2001\, CA\, QC\, Mon
 treal\, H3A 1G1\, 2001\, avenue McGill College
SUMMARY:Symposium - Shifts in understanding language across the autism spec
 trum and throughout development
URL:https://www.mcgill.ca/channels/channels/event/symposium-shifts-understa
 nding-language-across-autism-spectrum-and-throughout-development-372933
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