A comparison of language characteristics of mentally retarded adults with fragile X syndrome and those with nonspecific mental retardation and autism

Fragile X syndrome is a recently identified form of mental retardation that is associated with a chromosomal abnormality and inherited in an X-linked manner. Previous studies have suggested that distinctive speech and language characteristics are associated with the syndrome. Twelve adult male residents of an institution for the retarded (aged 23 to 51 years) were compared on a series of speech and language measures to 12 adult males with nonspecific forms of MR who were residents of the same institution and were matched on age and IQ. A second contrast group consisted of similarly matched autistic men. Results revealed that there were no significant differences among the groups' performance, with the exception of increased rates of echolalia in the autistic group. A nonsignificant trend toward poorer performance on expressive measures on the part of the fragile X group was noted. The implications of these findings for further research on the syndrome are discussed.We wish to express our most sincere appreciation to the staff of the Southbury Training School for their cheerful cooperation throughout this study, most especially to Edward Benjamin, Richard Witham, and Dr. Jean Gino. To our research nurse, Sharon Ort, research associate Wendy Marans, and research assistants Deborah Soriano, Elaine Algiers, and Karen Beebe, whose help in collecting, coding, and rating the data were invaluable, we also express our thanks. This research was supported by grants from the NIMH Mental Health Clinical Research Center grant no MR30929-09, the Children's Clinical Research Center grant no. RR00125-05, NICHD grant no. HPO3008-18, the MacArthur Foundation, the Merck Foundation and U.S. Public Health Service grant no. HD-11624.