PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The vast majority of young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) demonstrate severe and persistent
delays in language development that negatively impact their ability to form social relationships, succeed in
school, and achieve an optimal quality of life. Given the severity of language delays and their lasting impact,
many interventions have been developed to improve language skills in children with ASD. A central strategy in
such interventions is for adults to modify the way they speak to help children understand and learn from
spoken language—for example, by simplifying their utterances, relative to utterance length in adult
conversation. However, the field lacks controlled, experimental evidence regarding how linguistic simplification
impacts children’s ability to understand and learn from spoken language. This gap in knowledge poses a
significant barrier to evidence-based practice and scientific progress. Fortunately, our team has validated and
refined the tools needed to address the limitations of prior work. In the proposed study, we adopt the looking-
while-listening paradigm to examine real-time effects of utterance simplification on children’s language
processing and word learning. As a screen-based task, looking-while-listening has limited behavioral task
demands, making it appropriate for children with a wide range of abilities (including those who are minimally
verbal). The objective of the proposed project is to determine how linguistic simplification affects language
processing and word learning in young children with ASD. Participants will be 104 children with ASD (2 – 4
years old) with a broad range of abilities. Children will complete standardized assessments and looking-while-
listening tasks. Based on strong preliminary data, our central hypothesis is that simplification will negatively
affect processing and learning. This central hypothesis will be addressed by 3 Specific Aims: 1) Determine how
single-word and telegraphic simplification affects language processing in young children with ASD. 2)
Determine how single-word and telegraphic simplification affects word learning in young children with ASD. 3)
Evaluate child characteristics that may moderate the effects of linguistic simplification on language processing
and word learning in young children with ASD. Regardless of the outcome, these results will have a strong
impact on theory and clinical practice. Findings will be significant because they will determine how linguistic
simplification affects children’s ability to understand and learn from spoken language. This project will also
contribute to our long-term goal of systematically evaluating the components (and likely active ingredients) of
early language interventions.
