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Information and Practice Needs Relevant to Young Autistic Children: Examining Social Media as an Information Source for Speech-Language Pathologists and Parents

Award Number: R21DC023378
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: 08/15/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/30/2028

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Information and Practice Needs Relevant to Young Autistic Children: Examining Social Media as an Information Source for Speech-Language Pathologists and Parents - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT In response to PAR-25-217, this community-engaged, transdisciplinary project will use a mixed-methods approach to investigate information and practice needs of SLPs and parents of autistic children related to the use of social media as an information source. This project will address two Specific Aims. Aim 1 will apply Explanatory Sequential Mixed Methods Design to examine how SLPs and parents of young autistic children use social media as an information source, and how they evaluate the quality of that information. In Phase 1 (quantitative), we will survey 150 SLPs and 150 parents about their social media practices. In Phase 2 (qualitative), we will interview a purposively sampled subset of 30 SLPs and 30 parents from Phase 1. Reflexive Thematic Analysis (RTA) will be applied to both sets of interview data to examine broader themes. We anticipate that survey analyses will reveal patterns of topics explored on social media related to language in autism (e.g., echolalia, applied behavior analysis, gestalt language processing), with varying degrees of engagement with social media, trust of content, and levels of analysis for credibility. We hypothesize that interview results will show wide variability in how SLPs and parents evaluate source credibility, with some minimizing the importance of such efforts. We expect that some SLPs and parents will report considering persuasive techniques, including reliance on emotion, “in-group” credibility heuristics, and polarization. Results will shed light on effective uses of social media, as well as unmet information and practice needs for both SLPs and parents. To fully understand the role of social media, it is necessary to examine not only how it is being used (Aim 1), but also how it functions as a platform for disseminating information about autism and language delay. Thus, Aim 2 will apply a Convergent Mixed Methods design to determine how information about autism and language delay is disseminated on social media. We will create and examine two corpora: posts from SLPs Influencers (content creators who regularly share information with large audiences) and Community Discussions (public Facebook groups, subreddits). Across both corpora, the text-based quantitative approach will use Structural Topic Modeling to examine patterns of co-occurring terms, and sentiment analysis to examine relationships between tone (e.g., negative, inflammatory) and engagement in social media content. The qualitative approach will use RTA to identify themes in exemplar posts from both corpora. We hypothesize that specific topics will co-occur (e.g., “gestalt language processing” with “life-changing”) and that posts with negative sentiment will have increased engagement. Findings from the proposed project will advance the field by elucidating the role of social media as a source of clinical information for SLPs and parents. The proposed project will provide the information needed to develop tailored social media literacy training for SLPs who work with young autistic children and their families, thereby maximizing the potential for social media to support evidence-based practice.


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 = $426,540 )
2026	2026	MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY	426 AUDITORIUM RD RM 360	EAST LANSING	MI	48824	INGHAM	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	8/14/2026	NEW	$426,540
														Subtotal = $426,540

Grand Total All Awards = $426,540

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Information and Practice Needs Relevant to Young Autistic Children: Examining Social Media as an Information Source for Speech-Language Pathologists and Parents

Award Number: R21DC023378

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: 08/15/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 07/30/2028

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