Autism online: a comparison of word usage in bloggers with and without autism spectrum disorders

The Internet has become a place of refuge for individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In particular, weblogs are a popular option for personal expression via the Internet. Perhaps this means of communication is well suited to bypassing deficits in social interaction and communication that characterize ASD. Using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) dictionaries [10], we compared blogs of individuals with ASD to the writing of neurotypical (NT) bloggers. We found that rates of word usage were nearly identical in the two groups with one exception

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2009
• Where: CHI
• Authors: A. Taylor Newton, Adam D. I. Kramer, Daniel N. McIntosh
• Keywords: Autism Spectrum Disorders, CHI 2009, Communication, Human Computer Interaction, Word Usage