Journal
JOURNAL OF SPEECH LANGUAGE AND HEARING RESEARCH
Volume 50, Issue 5, Pages 1350-1364Publisher
AMER SPEECH-LANGUAGE-HEARING ASSOC
DOI: 10.1044/1092-4388(2007/094)
Keywords
autism spectrum disorders; language comprehension; auditory comprehension
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Purpose: This study tests the hypothesis that toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) will show differences from contrast groups in preferences for attending to speech. Method: This study examined auditory preferences in toddlers with ASD and matched groups of (a) typical age-mates, (b) age-mates with nonautistic developmental disabilities, and (c) younger children matched for language age. The experimental procedure measured time spent oriented to auditory stimuli that were created to exemplify language patterns that had been studied in typically developing infants. Results: Findings suggest that toddlers with ASD show a reduced preference for child-directed speech, compared with typical age-mates, but few differences from children with nonautistic developmental disorders. Correlational analysis revealed that time spent listening to child-directed speech by children with ASD was related to their concurrent receptive language ability as well as to receptive language abilities 1 year later. This relationship did not hold for the other groups. Conclusion: The present study supports the hypothesis that children with ASD perform differently from typical peers in auditory preference paradigms and that performance in these tasks is related to concurrent and later language development.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available