Life Science Journal 2012;9(4) http://www.lifesciencesite.com http://www.lifesciencesite.com lifesciencej@gmail.com 2950 The Use of Different Tense in Autistic Children Ameneh Zare 1 , Shahin Nematzadeh 2 1. Department of Linguistics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ph.D Student,Tehran, Iran 2. Department of Cognitive Linguistics, Institute for Cognitive Studies E-mail: a86.zare@yahoo.com ; E-mail: snematzadeh@iricss.org . Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by abnormalities in social communication, language abilities and repetitive behaviors. The present study focused on some grammatical deficits in autistic children. We evaluated the impairment of correct use of different Persian verb tenses in autistic children’s speech. Two standardized Language Test were administered then gathered data were analyzed. The main result of this study was significant difference between the mean scores of correct responses to present tense in comparison with past tense in Persian language. This study demonstrated that tense is severely impaired in autistic children’s speech. Our findings indicated those autistic children’s production of simple present/ past tense opposition to be better than production of future and past periphrastic forms (past perfect, present perfect, past progressive). [Ameneh Zare, Shahin Nematzadeh. The Use of Different Tense in Autistic Children. Life Sci J 2012;9(4):2950- 2954] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com . 431 Keywords:Autism, Past, Persian Language, Present, Tense. I INTRODUCTION Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and affects a person’s ability to communicate and interact with others. Autistic children almost always begin to speak much later than normal. This seems to be a general consensus among other researchers, that autistic children simply develop language later, rather than developing in a different manner [1]. Some researchers [2] discovered that most likely children diagnosed with autism have no language growth until the age of three and are faced with difficulties. A great deal of research regarding the low IQ score of autistic children indicates the relationship of this low level to language abilities. However, Findings showed that a high IQ score is not necessarily a sign of high level of language and speech [3]. Almost half of autistic children are incapable of using language as a method of communication [4]. According to [5] a level of language abilities of these children are either dismissed or have stopped growing. Speech in autistic children in comparison with normal children is distinctive in three aspects:1-The autistic children have more growth in their production abilities than their language abilities.2-they have more growth in words comprehension than grammatical comprehension.3-more growth in verbal abilities in comparison with verbal comprehension[6]. Although autistic speech was described as being grammatically correct, it was often reported that use of syntax was primitive and limited in forms [7]. This is highlighted by evidence that at high mean length of utterance (MLUs) there is an over estimation of index of productive syntax (IPS) as autistic grammatical constructs. Autism is a social disorder, meaning that a child with autism may be highly intelligent academically, but will always suffer difficulties in social environment [8]. Many autistic people have a surprisingly wide vocabulary, considering their low levels of comprehension and communication skills. The ability to name objects as an isolated skill doesn’t indicate the development of communicative language. Indeed, the reverse may be the case [9]. Children with autism begin to develop normal speech, but then suddenly lose the acquired speech and fail to progress linguistically; this disappearance usually occurs between 18 and 30 months of age [10]. Some autistic children may be unable to speak, whereas others may have rich vocabularies and are able to talk about topics of interest in great depth. Despite this variation, the majority of autistic individuals have little or no problem with pronunciation. Most have difficulty effectively using language. Some researchers tested children with autism and they found that some autistic children have normal language skills whereas others performed significantly below chronological age expectations[11]. Omission of certain morphemes in obligatory contexts was more frequent among children with autism,particularly articles(a, the),auxiliary and copula verbs and children with autism were significantly less likely to mark past tense than were matched controls with Down Syndrome[12]. II.METHOD A.PARTICIPANTS The study included 56 children with autism. The sample included 39 boys and 17 girls between the age of 6-12 years and were able to complete the experimental task described below. Children were diagnosed with autism using DSM-IV criteria. The