Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( 🔒 ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Need Help

EMERGE: Early Markers of Expressive and Receptive (language) Growth in Emergent autistic toddlers.

Award Number: R01DC021174
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: 08/23/2024
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2029

Group Awards By:

View Award Description

EMERGE: Early Markers of Expressive and Receptive (language) Growth in Emergent autistic toddlers. - : EMERGE: Early Markers of Expressive and Receptive (language) Growth in Emergent autistic toddlers The majority of 18-24-month-old autistic children have no words, demonstrating significant delays in their language development, a leading source of concern that often brings them to the attention of physicians or other professionals in community settings91,92. About half of these children continue to show significant language delay, speaking no words at 30-33 months2 and exhibiting delays in language greater than expected for their nonverbal cognitive age2. The period of development between 18-30 months is critical for language learning, coinciding with the period of time parents note differences in their children’s development93. We do not understand why some children begin to use words and others do not but speaking early (before 36 months) has long- lasting and cascading effects on development94,95. This may be especially true for children who are diagnosed later, and when diagnosed, often have lower cognitive/intellectual abilities8. Starting out with language delays can limit opportunities for children, tracking them into specialized settings that result in poorer outcomes overall. Understanding why language outcomes diverge over this critical language learning window, is essential to optimize the targets and timing of early, effective interventions. Therefore, a major gap in our knowledge concerns the measures and timing of when we can predict spoken language outcomes of young children with autism. To explore the vast heterogeneity in language outcomes, it will be necessary to deeply phenotype children using a range of concurrent neural and behavioral markers of spoken language and examine how these changes progress over time. This study will be the first to collect simultaneous social communication, language, sensory, motor development, and neural activity (via remote EEG) measures in the homes of families who have typically not been engaged in research studies, which we will do at three distinct times over the 18-30-month window of development. Participants include 132 18-month-old toddlers with autism who screen as having no words at study start. Our outcome will be the total number of novel words on a language sample. This study has the potential to dramatically improve our understanding of language growth among developmentally delayed autistic toddlers. It also addresses a high priority need of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Council and NIH, which includes a focus on minimally verbal, intellectually disabled children and community samples.


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: 2025 ( Subtotal = $664,870 )
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES	10889 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 700	LOS ANGELES	CA	90024	LOS ANGELES	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	9/24/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
2025	2025	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES	10889 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 700	LOS ANGELES	CA	90024	LOS ANGELES	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	8/13/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$664,870
														Subtotal = $664,870

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $664,249 )
2024	2024	UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES	10889 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 700	LOS ANGELES	CA	90024	LOS ANGELES	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	8/22/2024	NEW	$664,249
														Subtotal = $664,249

Grand Total All Awards = $1,329,119

Top

All Categories

About

Search

Reports

Data Submission

Award Information

EMERGE: Early Markers of Expressive and Receptive (language) Growth in Emergent autistic toddlers.

Award Number: R01DC021174

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: 08/23/2024

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/31/2029

Federal Websites

Department of Health & Human Services

HHS Operating Divisions

HHS Staff Divisions

Download A Document Viewer