Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-qsmjn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T18:00:02.380Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children's referential understanding of novel words and parent labeling behaviors: similarities across children with and without autism spectrum disorders*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2012

HANADY BANI HANI ,
ANA MARIA GONZALEZ-BARRERO  and
APARNA S. NADIG
HANADY BANI HANI
Affiliation:
McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders
ANA MARIA GONZALEZ-BARRERO
Affiliation:
McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders
APARNA S. NADIG*
Affiliation:
McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders
*
Address for correspondence: Aparna Nadig, PhD, McGill University, School of Communication Sciences and Disorders. e-mail: aparna.nadig@mcgill.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined two facets of the use of social cues for early word learning in parent–child dyads, where children had an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or were typically developing. In Experiment 1, we investigated word learning and generalization by children with ASD (age range: 3;01–6;02) and typically developing children (age range: 1;02–4;09) who were matched on language ability. In Experiment 2, we examined verbal and non-verbal parental labeling behaviors. First, we found that both groups were similarly able to learn a novel label using social cues alone, and to generalize this label to other representations of the object. Children who utilized social cues for word learning had higher language levels. Second, we found that parental cues used to introduce object labels were strikingly similar across groups. Moreover, parents in both groups adapted labeling behavior to their child's language level, though this surfaced in different ways across groups.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 40 , Issue 5 , November 2013 , pp. 971 - 1002
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

[*]

This work was funded by a grant from the Fonds Québecois de recherche sur la société et la culture to A. Nadig. We wish to thank the members of the PoP lab for their dedication and cumulative efforts in the word learning study, especially Krista Howarth, Emilie Leroux, Jesse Burns, and Janet Bang. Thanks to Sarah Smith for her work on reliability coding and to Dr Fombonne, Dr Steiman, and others at the Montreal Children's Hospital autism clinic for their assistance with recruitment. Finally, we extend our gratitude to the families and children who took part in this study.

References

REFERENCES

Adamson, L. B., Bakeman, R., Deckner, D. F. & Romski, M. (2009). Joint engagement and the emergence of language in children with autism and Down syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 39, 84–96.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adamson, L. B., McArthur, D., Markov, D., Dunbar, Y. & Bakeman, R. (2001). Autism and joint attention: Young children's responses to maternal bids. Applied Developmental Psychology 22, 439–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edn. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. B., Lord, C., Risi, S., DiLavore, P. S., Shulman, C., Thurm, A. et al. (2007). Patterns of growth in verbal abilities among children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 75, 594–604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, D. A. (1991). Infants' contribution to the achievement of joint reference. Child Development 62, 875–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldwin, D. A. (1993). Infants' ability to consult the speaker for clues to word reference. Journal of Child Language 20, 395–418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron-Cohen, S., Baldwin, D. A. & Crowson, M. (1997). Do children with autism use the speaker's direction of gaze strategy to crack the code of language? Child Development 68, 48–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, D., Wallace, G., Sokoloff, J. & Kenworthy, L. (2009). Brief report: IQ split predicts social symptoms and communication abilities in high-functioning children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 39, 1613–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Booth, A. E., McGregor, K. K. & Rohlfing, K. J. (2008). Socio-pragmatics and attention: Contributions to gesturally guided word learning in toddlers. Language, Learning and Development 4, 179–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brigham, N. B., Yoder, P. J., Jarzynka, M. A. & Tapp, J. (2010). The sequential relationship between parent attentional cues and sustained attention to objects in young children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 40, 200–208.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brock, J., Norbury, C., Einav, S. & Nation, K. (2008). Do individuals with autism process words in context? Evidence from language-mediated eye-movements. Cognition 108(3), 896–904.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Callanan, M. A. (1985). How parents label objects for young children: The role of input in the acquisition of category hierarchies. Child Development 56, 508–523.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, S. & Bartlett, E. (1978). Acquiring a single new word. Papers and Reports on Child Language Development 15, 17–29.Google Scholar
Charman, T. (2004). Matching preschool children with autism spectrum disorders and comparison children for language ability: Methodological challenges. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 34, 59–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charman, T., Drew, A., Baird, C. & Baird, G. (2003). Measuring early language development in preschool children with autism spectrum disorder using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Infant Form). Journal of Child Language 30, 213–36.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Csibra, G. (2010). Recognizing communicative intentions in infancy. Mind and Language 25, 141–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Csibra, G. & Gergely, G. (2009). Natural pedagogy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13, 148–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duyck, W., Desmet, T., Verbeke, L. P. & Brysbaert, M. (2004). WordGen: A tool for word selection and nonword generation in Dutch, English, German, and French. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers: A Journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc 36(3), 488–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A.-G. & Buchner, A. (2007). G*Power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods 39, 175–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenson, L., Marchman, V. A., Thal, D. J., Dale, P. S., Reznick, J. S. & Bates, E. (2007). MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: User's guide and technical manual, 2nd edn. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Fisher, N., Happé, F. & Dunn, J. (2005). The relationship between vocabulary, grammar, and false belief task performance in children with autistic spectrum disorders and children with moderate learning difficulties. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46(4), 409–419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gogate, L. J., Bahrick, L. E. & Watson, J. D. (2000). A study of multimodal motherese: The role of temporal synchrony between verbal labels and gestures, Child Development 71, 878–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Happé, F. (1995). The role of age and verbal ability in the theory of mind task performance of subjects with autism. Child Development 66(3), 843–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hollich, G., Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Golinkoff, R. (2000). Breaking the language barrier: An emergentist coalition model for the origins of word learning. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 65(3), 1–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hus, V., Pickles, A., Cook, E. H. Jr., Risi, S. & Lord, C. (2007). Using the Autism Diagnostic Interview–Revised to increase phenotypic homogeneity in genetic studies of autism. Biological Psychiatry 61, 438–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Joseph, R. M., Tager-Flusberg, H. & Lord, C. (2002). Cognitive profiles and social-communicative functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46, 807–821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kjelgaard, M. M. & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2001). An investigation of language impairment in autism: Implications for genetic subgroups. Language and Cognitive Processes 16, 287–308.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lord, C. & Rutter, M. (1994). Autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. In Rutter, M., Taylor, E. & Hersov, L. (eds), Child and adolescent psychiatry: Modern approaches, 3rd edn., 569–93. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lord, C., Rutter, M., DiLavore, P. C. & Risi, S. (1999). Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). Los Angeles, CA: Western Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Luyster, R., Kadlec, M., Carter, A. & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2008). Language assessment and development in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 38, 1426–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luyster, R., Lopez, K. & Lord, C. (2007). Characterizing communicative development in children referred for autism spectrum disorders using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI). Journal of Child Language 34, 623–54.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Luyster, R. & Lord, C. (2009). Word learning in children with autism spectrum disorders. Developmental Psychology 45, 1774–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markus, J., Mundy, P., Morales, M., Delgado, C. E. F. & Yale, M. (2000). Individual differences in infant skills as predictors of child–caregiver joint attention and language. Social Development 9, 302–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDuffie, A. S., Yoder, P. J. & Stone, W. L. (2006). Labels increase attention to novel objects in children with autism and comprehension-matched children with typical development. Autism 10, 288–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mirenda, P. & Locke, P. (1989). A comparison of symbol transparency in nonspeaking persons with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 54, 131–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mullen, E. M. (1995). Mullen Scales of Early Learning. San Antonio, TX: Pearson.Google Scholar
Nadig, A., Vivanti, G. & Ozonoff, S. (2009). Adaptation of object descriptions to a partner under increasing communicative demands: A comparison of children with and without autism. Autism Research 2(6), 334–47.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norbury, C. F. (2005). Barking up the wrong tree? Lexical ambiguity resolution in children with language impairments and autistic spectrum disorders. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 90(2), 142–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norbury, C. F., Griffiths, H. & Nation, K. (2010). Sound before meaning: Word learning in autistic disorders. Neuropsychologia 48, 4012–19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pan, B. A., Rowe, M. L., Singer, J. D. & Snow, C. E. (2005). Maternal correlates of growth in toddler vocabulary production in low-income families. Child Development 76, 763–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parish-Morris, J., Hennon, E. A., Hirsh-Pasek, K., Golinkoff, R. M. & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2007). Children with autism illuminate the role of social intention in word learning. Child Development 78, 1265–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preissler, M. A. (2008). Associative learning of pictures and words by low-functioning children with autism. Autism 12, 231–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Preissler, M. A. & Carey, S. (2004). Do both pictures and words function as symbols for 18- and 24-month-old children? Journal of Cognition & Development 5, 185–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preissler, M. A. & Carey, S. (2005). The role of inferences about referential intent in word learning: Evidence from autism. Cognition 97, B13–B23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, D. L., Fein, D. & Barton, M. L. (1999). The Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT). Storrs, CT: Self-published.Google Scholar
Sigman, M., Mundy, P., Sherman, T. & Ungerer, J. (1986). Social interactions of autistics, mentally retarded and normal children and their caregivers. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 27, 647–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siller, M. & Sigman, M. (2002). The behaviors of parents of children with autism predict the subsequent development of their children's communication. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 32, 77–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siller, M. & Sigman, M. (2008). Modeling longitudinal change in the language abilities of children with autism: Parent behaviours and child characteristics as predictors of change. Developmental Psychology 44, 1691–704.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swensen, L. D., Kelley, E., Fein, D. & Naigles, L. R. (2007). Processes of language acquisition in children with autism: Evidence from preferential looking. Child Development 78(2), 542–57.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swensen, L. D., Naigles, L. R. & Fein, D. (2007). Does maternal input affect the language of children with autism. Paper presented at the BUCLD Proceedings, Somerville, MA.Google Scholar
Tager-Flusberg, H. (2006). Defining language phenotypes in autism. Clinical Neuroscience Research 6, 219–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tek, S., Jaffery, G., Fein, D. & Naigles, L. R. (2008). Do children with autism spectrum disorders show a shape bias in word learning? Autism Research 1(4), 208–222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomasello, M. & Farrar, M. J. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development 57, 1454–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tomasello, M. & Todd, J. (1983). Joint attention and lexical acquisition style. First Language 4, 197–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trudeau, N., Frank, I. & Poulin-Dubois, D. (1997). Inventaire MacArthur-Bates du développement de la communication: Mots et gestes, Montreal, QC.Google Scholar
Watson, L. R. (1998). Following the child's lead: Mothers' interaction with children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 28, 51–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zammit, M. & Schafer, G. (2011). Maternal label and gesture use affects acquisition of specific object names. Journal of Child Language 38, 201–222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed