Language Comprehension & Outcomes in Children with Autism

语言理解

• 批准号: 6972971
• 负责人: LETITIA R NAIGLES
• 金额: $ 24.89万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-07-01 至 2008-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6972971
• 关键词: autism; behavior prediction; behavior test; behavioral /social science research tag; children; clinical research; comprehension; human subject; language development; learning; longitudinal human study; mother child interaction; paralinguistic behavior; patient oriented research; semantics

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Language development in typical children follows specific developmental sequences and demonstrates inherent biases at certain stages. It is not known to what degree language development in children with autism follows the same developmental rules or achieves language competence via different routes. The proposed study investigates two interrelated questions: First, is the process of language acquisition in autism similar to that of typically developing children? And second, what do language comprehension measures reveal about the process and products of language acquisition in children with autism? The proposed longitudinal study will use a language comprehension paradigm (Intermodal Preferential Looking, IPL) that has revealed important information about language in typical children 15 and 36 months of age but has not been used lo study autism. It combines the ability to display dynamic events with the necessity of only minimal response (visual fixation) and may reveal strengths and weaknesses not shown on standardized testing. Participants will be 18-36 months old, recently diagnosed with autism/PDD and about to begin a home Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program. A baseline assessment before treatment will be followed by assessments at 4-6 month intervals for 2 years, plus a final assessment at age 5-7 years. IPL will be used o examine multiple aspects of language such as word order in sentences and verb learning; the children will also be videotaped during naturalistic interaction with their mothers to provide information about spontaneous language production. Standardized assessments of the children's linguistic, nonverbal, and social functioning will also be obtained. Analyses will focus on (a) the degree to which comprehension exceeds production, (b) the degree to which preferential looking reveals more language ability than is demonstrated with traditional response methods (point, touch) and tests, (c) whether language development in ABA-created children with autism follows typical progressions and inherent biases, and (d) how early patterns of language development might predict ASD children's language abilities at ages 5-7. Results have the potential to provide useful new information to aid treatment by pinpointing subtle deficits and strengths in language, as well as to illuminate possibly different developmental pathways in language acquisition.

描述（由申请人提供）：典型儿童的语言发展遵循特定的发展顺序，并在某些阶段表现出固有的偏见。目前尚不清楚自闭症儿童的语言发展在多大程度上遵循相同的发展规则或通过不同的途径获得语言能力。这项研究探讨了两个相互关联的问题：第一，自闭症儿童的语言习得过程是否与正常儿童相似？第二，语言理解测量揭示了自闭症儿童语言习得的过程和结果？拟议的纵向研究将使用语言理解范式（Intermodal Preferential Looking，IPL），该范式揭示了15和36个月大的典型儿童语言的重要信息，但尚未用于研究自闭症。它结合了显示动态事件的能力和仅需最小反应（视觉注视）的必要性，并可能揭示标准化测试中未显示的优点和缺点。参与者将是18-36个月大，最近被诊断患有自闭症/PDD，并即将开始家庭应用行为分析（阿坝）计划。治疗前进行基线评估，之后每隔4-6个月进行一次评估，持续2年，并在5-7岁时进行最终评估。IPL将用于检查语言的多个方面，如句子中的语序和动词学习;儿童在与母亲的自然互动过程中也将被录像，以提供有关自发语言产生的信息。还将获得对儿童语言、非语言和社会功能的标准化评估。分析将集中在（a）理解超过表达的程度，（B）优先观看比传统反应方法显示的语言能力更强的程度（点，触摸）和测试，（c）ABA创建的自闭症儿童的语言发展是否遵循典型的进展和固有的偏见，以及（d）早期语言发展模式如何预测5-7岁ASD儿童的语言能力。结果有可能提供有用的新信息，以帮助治疗，通过精确定位微妙的缺陷和优势的语言，以及照亮可能不同的发展途径，在语言习得。