EARLY LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS IN AUTISM

语言和交流障碍是自闭症的关键组成部分。我们实验室一直在对患有自闭症的学龄前儿童进行研究，检查语言处理的早期方面。这些研究揭示了学龄前自闭症儿童与发育迟缓(DD)和典型发育迟缓(DD)儿童在语音辨别、社交交流和跨模式加工方面的显著差异。由于这些测量反映了婴儿时期出现的能力，因此这些结果表明，早期言语测量在很小的时候就可以识别患有自闭症的儿童。此外，这些早期的语言和交流能力的测量可能被证明是语言结果的非常敏感的预测因子 患有自闭症的儿童。在目前的提案中，我们计划在18-24个月的自闭症儿童中检查这些早期言语测量-即(1)语音知觉的事件相关脑电位测量，(2)对语音相对于机械发声听觉信号的听力偏好，以及(3)声音模仿能力-以及对比患有发育迟缓和典型发育的儿童组，以确定这些测量是否歧视早期自闭症儿童。此外，我们将评估它们在解释自闭症儿童4岁时的个体差异和预测语言结果方面的价值。

Language and communication impairments are key components of autism. Our laboratory has been conducting studies on preschool age children with autism examining early aspects of language processing. These studies have revealed critical differences in phonetic discrimination, social communication, and crossmodal processing between preschool age children with autism and mental-age and chronological-age matched groups of developmentally delayed (DD) and typically developing children. As these measures reflect abilities that emerge during infancy, these results signal the potential of early speech measures for identifying children with autism at a very young age. Furthermore, it is possible that these early measures of language and communication ability may prove to be very sensitive predictors of language outcome for children with autism. In the current proposal, we plan to examine these early speech measures - namely, (1) event-related brain potential measures of phonetic perception, (2) listening preference for speech versus mechanical-sounding auditory signals, and (3) vocal imitation abilities - in 18-24 month children with autism, and comparison groups of children with DD and typical development to determine whether such measures discriminate children with autism at an early age. Furthermore, we will assess their value in explaining individual differences and predicting language outcome at age 4 for children with autism.