Speaker

Professor Liang Dandan

From Nanjing Normal University

Title

The Impact of Semantic Processing on Pragmatic Inference in Children with High-Functioning Autism

Abstract

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder that emerges in early childhood. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), its defining characteristics include social communication deficits and repetitive behaviors.

Children with high-functioning autism (HFA) generally exhibit intact structural aspects of language, while their core impairment lies in pragmatic competence. This lecture examines differences between Chinese-speaking children with HFA and typically developing (TD) children in processing evaluative meaning, factive verbs, and scalar terms. From a semantic perspective, it analyzes the challenges faced by this population in pragmatic inference and discusses implications for clinical intervention and rehabilitation.

About the Speaker:

Liang Dandan is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at Nanjing Normal University. She serves as Vice Chair and Secretary-General of the Neurolinguistics Committee of the Society on Modernization of Chinese Language, and as Vice Chair of the Committee on Medical Linguistics and Translation. Her research focuses on clinical linguistics and neurolinguistics.

She has published several monographs, including Introduction to Language Disorder in Children, Intervention in Language Disorder in Children, and Language Disorders and Acquisition in Children. She has authored more than 60 articles in SSCI- and CSSCI- indexed journals.

Professor Liang’s research achievements have received multiple honors, including the Second Prize of the Science Research Famous Achievement Award in Higher Institution (Humanities and Social Sciences) (9th edition) and the Second Prize of the 15th and 16th Philosophy and Social Sciences Outstanding Achievement Award of Jiangsu Province. She has led one Major Project and two Young Talents Projects of the National Social Science Fund, one project supported by the National Publication Fund, and one sub-project of the National Social Science Fund Major Bidding Program. She is currently in charge of one ongoing Major Project of the National Social Science Fund and one ongoing Sub-project of the National Social Science Fund Major Bidding Program.

Professor Liang has been selected for several provincial talent programs, including the “333 High-level Talent Training Program”, the Jiangsu Distinguished Talents of Social Science, and the Qinglan Project.