Learning new words from overhearing in children with ASD

项目摘要/摘要 大多数患有自闭症谱系障碍(ASD)的儿童也有未成年的词汇知识。这些缺陷与他们糟糕的社交技能有关。学龄前儿童的词汇知识对结果有很强的预测力。因此，了解患有自闭症的学龄前儿童如何获得新词汇是至关重要的。在目前的方案中，我们研究了患有自闭症的学龄前儿童和典型发育儿童(TD)在对社交技能要求最低的情况下学习词汇的情况，看看这些情景是否可以为词汇教学提供另一种途径。 具体地说，我们研究了儿童是否可以在无意中学习新单词的环境中学习新单词，在这种环境中，他们没有被直接提到，而是两个成年人之间的对话的见证者，其中一个成年人向另一个成年人介绍了一个新单词。先前的研究已经表明，在这种情况下，TD儿童可以学习新单词，而PI的研究也初步证明，患有自闭症的儿童也可以。我们还考察了儿童在视频中是否能够从这些互动中学习，以及他们是否能够从这些互动中获得动词、代词和名词。 这项研究将揭示ASD和TD的语言学习机制，并将为开发有效的语言干预措施提供支持。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Most children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) also have below-age vocabulary knowledge. These deficits are linked to their poor social communication skills. Vocabulary knowledge in the preschool years is a powerful predictor of outcomes. It is therefore crucial to understand how preschoolers with ASD can acquire new vocabulary. In the current proposal, we study how preschoolers with ASD and typically-developing (TD) children learn vocabulary in situations that place minimal demands on social communication skills to see if these can provide an alternate avenue for vocabulary instruction. Specifically, we study whether children can learn new words in overhearing contexts in which they are not directly addressed, but instead are witnesses to a conversation between two adults, one of whom introduces a new word to the other. Prior work has shown that TD children can learn new words in such situations, and there is preliminary evidence from the PI’s; work that children with ASD can as well. We also examine whether children can learn from these interactions when they take place on video, and whether they can acquire verbs and pronouns as well as nouns from these interactions. This research will shed light on the mechanisms underlying language learning in ASD and in TD and will support the development of effective language interventions.