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Looking and Language (LoLa)

Award Number: R00DC021501
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/05/2024
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2029

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Looking and Language (LoLa) - Language outcomes are highly heterogenous in autism and can impact long-term psychosocial, educational, and vocational outcomes for children on the autism spectrum. Thus, there is a pressing need to identify novel approaches to language intervention, ideally those that can be implemented in early stages of development, when brain and behavior are most plastic. Many have begun to consider “pre-emptive” interventions for infants with autistic older siblings (Sibs-autism), who are highly likely be diagnosed with autism or developmental language disorder (DLD) themselves. I hypothesize that a targeted pre-emptive intervention that encourages Sibs-autism to look to the mouth of a speaker (i.e., by moving a referent, or the item about which an adult is talking, near the mouth) during an evidence-based intervention for language may yield more optimal language outcomes than traditional therapy alone. This strategy has already been shown to boost word learning in autistic preschoolers, at least for proximal targets (i.e., for words that were specifically taught using the strategy in a short-term training context). The Looking and Language Project (LoLa) represents a preliminary systematic test of this strategy in Sibs-autism. I will evaluate the effects of an intervention that encourages looking to audiovisual speech by moving the referent of interventionist talk near the mouth (Milieu Teaching-AV) compared to Milieu Teaching-NoAV in a total of 60 Sibs-autism within the context of a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT). This pilot RCT will allow me to estimate effect sizes for (a) direct effects on word learning, both for trained words and broader language, (b) moderated effects (i.e., determining for whom the intervention yields optimal outcomes), and (c) mediated effects (i.e., determining the mechanisms by which the intervention works). These aims will lay the foundation for a follow-up R01 submission for a fully powered RCT.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $249,000 )
2026	2026	FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME	14100 CRAWFORD ST	BOYS TOWN	NE	68010	DOUGLAS	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	2/27/2026	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$249,000
														Subtotal = $249,000

Grand Total All Awards = $249,000

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Looking and Language (LoLa)

Award Number: R00DC021501

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/05/2024

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 02/28/2029

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