Rapid word learning in preverbal children with autism.
Item
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Title
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Rapid word learning in preverbal children with autism.
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Identifier
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AAI3187386
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identifier
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3187386
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Creator
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Bailey, Harper.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Katherine Nelson
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Date
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2005
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Developmental | Education, Special
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Abstract
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This dissertation is concerned with the theoretical and applied problems raised by the communicative impairment of individuals diagnosed with autistic disorder. Autistic disorder is characterized by significant social impairments (e.g. lack of eye contact). Although making eye contact (joint attention) is critical to word learning, very few studies have looked at early word learning among autistic children. Symptoms of autism also include atypical patterns of behavior and attention (e.g. focusing on partial or irrelevant features of an object context). Previous research has not assessed how these nonsocial impairments in autism impact word learning. This dissertation will focus on the contributions of both social and cognitive attention impairments in autism. This is the first study to assess the rapid word learning abilities of preverbal children with autism.;This dissertation relates the language delay/deficit characteristic of autism to two word learning models from the literature on typical language development ("gaze-following" and "fast mapping"). This dissertation included an assessment and a training intervention. In the assessment, 15 preverbal children with autism demonstrated significantly lower scores on word learning tests in both fast-mapping and gaze-following conditions as compared to 10 typically developing children and 5 language-matched children with mental retardation. In the intervention, 10 children participated in two (counter-balanced) programs designed to teach fast-mapping and gaze following while 5 children participated in the non-training control group. Post-test scores indicated that participants in the training groups demonstrated significant improvements in both fast-mapping and gaze-following scores, whereas participants in the control group did not. This dissertation is the first study to approach training rapid word learning strategies in children with autism.;Impairments in the two primary word-learning strategies ("gaze-following" and "fast mapping") are interpreted within the context of the two models of autism ("impaired theory of mind" and "weak central coherence"). The implications of the assessment and intervention are discussed in terms of future research and training interventions.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
