Reconceptualising word learning difficulties in children with autism using novel empirical and computational methods.

词汇学习是儿童语言发展的一个重要方面。然而，许多患有自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）的儿童在学习单词方面存在巨大困难，大约30%的儿童在9岁时几乎没有语言。由于ASD影响全世界每68名儿童中就有1名，因此调查为什么这些儿童中有如此多的儿童难以学习单词是全球研究的重点，也是设计有效干预措施的必要前提。本项目将探索患有ASD的语言障碍儿童的单词学习的多个阶段，以隔离其困难的来源。在一系列涉及自闭症儿童和具有典型发展的儿童的实验中，我们将比较这些群体如何（a）识别不熟悉的单词的含义，（B）随着时间的推移保留单词的含义，以及（c）将单词概括为新的上下文。我们还将评估自闭症儿童对信息性社会线索（如凝视和手势）的敏感性降低如何影响这些阶段的单词学习。基于这些新的数据，我们将开发一个新的综合帐户的单词学习缺陷的ASD，包括单词学习的多个方面，以及他们如何受到社会困难的影响。这个账户将得到一个新的计算模型的支持，该模型模拟ASD儿童学习新单词。该模型将表明单词学习的各个阶段如何相互作用，从而产生在ASD儿童中观察到的问题。因此，这种建模将提供无法通过简单观察行为获得的洞察力。此外，它将为未来的研究产生许多理论假设，并为预测可能促进ASD儿童单词学习的新干预措施的效果提供基础。本研究的发现将对特殊教育的实践具有重要的启示。通过检查单词学习的多个方面，我们的研究将确定可以通过干预措施针对的具体弱点和可以利用的优势。我们还将发现ASD儿童的单词学习是否可以通过引导他们的注意力来改善，并确定最佳的方法（例如社交或非社交线索）。至关重要的是，该项目将为开发新的循证干预措施提供必要的基础，这些干预措施将支撑单词学习的每个阶段，从而为ASD儿童提供最佳的学习条件。

Word learning is a vital aspect of children's language development. However, many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have enormous difficulty learning words and approximately 30% have virtually no language at 9 years of age. As ASD affects 1 in 68 children worldwide, investigating why so many of these children struggle to learn words is a global research priority and a necessary precursor to designing effective interventions.This project will explore multiple stages of word learning in minimally-verbal children with ASD in order to isolate the source, or sources, of their difficulties. In a series of experiments involving children with ASD and children with typical development, we will compare how these groups (a) identify the meanings of unfamiliar words, (b) retain the meanings of words over time, and (c) generalise words to novel contexts. We will also assess how these stages of word learning are influenced by autistic children's reduced sensitivity to informative social cues, such as gaze and gesture. Based on these novel data, we will develop a new integrative account of word learning deficits in ASD that incorporates multiple aspects of word learning and how they are influenced by social difficulties. This account will be supported by a new computational model simulating a child with ASD learning new words. The model will indicate how the stages of word learning might interact to produce the problems observed in children with ASD. Consequently, this modelling will provide insight that could not be obtained by simply observing behaviour. Moreover, it will yield numerous theoretical hypotheses for future research and provide a basis for predicting the effects of new interventions that may promote word learning in children with ASD. The findings from this research will have important implications for practice in Special Education. By examining multiple aspects of word learning, our studies will identify specific weaknesses that can be targeted by interventions and strengths to capitalise on. We will also discover whether word learning in children with ASD can be improved by directing their attention and identify the best way of doing this (e.g. social or non-social cues). Crucially, this project will provide a necessary foundation on which to develop new evidence-based interventions that scaffold each stage of word learning, thus providing optimal learning conditions for children with ASD.