Language Development and Outcome in Children with Autism

描述(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律，或者通过不同的途径实现语言理解。这项拟议的研究调查了两个相互关联的问题：第一，自闭症患者的语言习得和发展过程是否类似于正常发育的儿童？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是什么？这项拟议的纵向研究将使用一种语言理解范式(跨模式优先观察，IPL)，该范式揭示了有关15至36个月大的儿童语言的重要信息，但刚刚开始用于自闭症。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出的优势和劣势。参与者将在18-42个月大，最近被诊断出患有自闭症/PDD，并即将开始应用行为分析(ABA)计划。在治疗前的基线评估之后，将每隔4个月进行一次评估，为期2年以上，外加6-8年的最终评估。IPL将被用来检查语言的多个方面，如句子中的词序和单词学习中的偏见；孩子们还将在与他们的母亲进行自然互动的过程中被摄像，以提供关于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)理解先于产生的程度，(B)优先观察措施在多大程度上揭示了比传统反应方法和测试所显示的更多的语言能力，(C)接受ABA治疗的自闭症儿童的语言发展是否遵循典型的进展和固有偏见，以及(D)早期语言发展模式如何预测6-8岁自闭症儿童的语言能力。公共卫生相关性：该项目有可能提供有用的新信息，以帮助制定自闭症儿童的治疗计划。该项目可能会准确地指出自闭症儿童语言中的细微缺陷和优势，并阐明他们语言习得中可能存在的不同发展路径，这两者都可能指导新的治疗方案，特别是在发育早期。

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 comprehension via different routes. The proposed study investigates two interrelated questions: First, are the processes of language acquisition and development in autism similar to that of typically developing children? And second, what do language comprehension measures reveal about the processes 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 typically children between 15 and 36 months of age but has only just begun to be used with 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 18-42 months old, recently diagnosed with autism/PDD and about to begin an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program. A baseline assessment before treatment will be followed by assessments at 4-month intervals for 2+years, plus a final assessment at 6-8 years. IPL will b used to examine multiple aspects of language such as word order in sentences and biases in word 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 precedes production, (b) the degree to which preferential looking measures reveal more language abilities than are demonstrated with traditional response methods and tests, (c) whether language development in ABA-treated 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 6-8. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project has the potential to provide useful new information to aid in developing treatment plans for children with autism. The project may pinpoint subtle deficits and strengths in the language of children with autism, as well as to illuminate possibly different developmental pathways in their language acquisition, both of which may guide new treatment protocols, especially early in development.