Linguistic resources of individuals with Asperger syndrome.

In this paper the available literature on the communication skills of individuals with Asperger Syndrome (AS) is reviewed. Current issues regarding diagnosing and understanding disorders with a core social deficit are examined as well as the potential application of sociolinguistic analyses to the study of Asperger Syndrome, such as that provided from within a Systemic Functional Linguistic framework. The need for investigations that address a broader view of "language" and its use in social situations by individuals with AS as opposed to their mastery of syntactic aspects of language, will be discussed.