! ORL via Alexandros G.Sfakianakis on Inoreader: Gesture development in toddlers with an older sibling with autism

! ORL via Alexandros G.Sfakianakis on Inoreader

Gesture development in toddlers with an older sibling with autism Sep 7th 2015, 06:41, by Eve Sauer LeBarton, Jana M. Iverson Abstract Background Nonverbal communication deficits are characteristic of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and have been reported in some later-born siblings of children with ASD (heightened-risk (HR) children). However, little work has investigated gesture as a function of language ability, which varies greatly in this population. Aims This longitudinal study characterizes gesture in HR children and examines differences related to diagnostic outcome (ASD, language delay, no diagnosis) and age. Methods & Procedures We coded communicative gesture use for 29 HR children at ages 2 and 3 years during interactions with a caregiver at home. Outcomes & Results Children in the ASD group produced fewer gestures than their HR peers at 2 years, though large individual differences were observed within each subgroup at both ages. In addition, reliance on particular types of gestures varied with age and outcome. Both ASD and language delay children exhibited a pattern of reduced pointing relative to their no diagnosis peers. Conclusions & Implications Similarities and differences exist between communication in HR infants with language delay and their HR peers, reinforcing our understanding of links between verbal and nonverbal communication in populations at risk for language delay.

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! ORL via Alexandros G.Sfakianakis on Inoreader: Children with ASD can use gaze to map new words

! ORL via Alexandros G.Sfakianakis on Inoreader

Children with ASD can use gaze to map new words Sep 7th 2015, 06:41, by Allison Bean Ellawadi, Karla K. McGregor Abstract Background The conclusion that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) do not use eye gaze in the service of word learning is based on one-trial studies. Aims To determine whether children with ASD come to use gaze in the service of word learning when given multiple trials with highly reliable eye-gaze cues. Methods & Procedures Fifteen children with ASD with a mean age of 59 months (range = 36–92 months) and 15 typically developing (TD) peers with a mean age of 37 months (range = 16–92 months), and matched to the ASD group on receptive vocabulary raw scores, participated in four conditions formed by crossing-gaze load (high versus low) and attention load (high versus low). The high eye-gaze load condition required the children to shift attention to the examiner and follow her gaze to fast map new words correctly. The low-gaze load did not require shift and follow behaviours. The high-attention condition involved three (as opposed to one) distracter objects. Outcomes & Results As compared with the TD group, a lower proportion of the ASD group shifted and followed the examiner on the initial trial of the high-gaze load condition, but there was not a significant difference between groups when shift and follow behaviours were averaged over subsequent trials, nor was there a difference between groups in fast-mapping performance. Fast-mapping outcomes were correlated with gaze shift and follow behaviours in the high-gaze load condition. Conclusions & Implications The finding that the children with ASD altered their looking behaviour over the course of the experiment suggests that children with ASD were sensitive to statistical regularities present in the examiner's gaze cues and used this information to alter their looking behaviour over the course of the experiment.

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