Delays in language development and impairments in communication ability constitute a diagnostic feature of Autistic Disorder and PDD-NOS/Atypical Autism;communication challenges are also well documented among children with Asperger's Disorder. The goal of this project is to characterize the early language development of young children diagnosed with 1 of these pervasive developmental disorders (who will be referred to as children with an ASD). Our starting point is the empirical overlap recently demonstrated between the language impairments observed within the autism spectrum and those observed outside it (in language specific disorders), and our theoretical motivation is whether the language impairments observed in ASD involve a unique constellation of phenomena (the distinct category account), or whether they differ only quantitatively from those observed in language-specific disorders (the dimensional account). Our first specific aim will characterize the early language skills of a large sample (N=170) of ASD children at age 2;6;a parallel specific aim will evaluate language outcomes by assessing the same children at age 5;6 (Studies 1 and 8). Further specific aims will compare longitudinally 2 ASD subgroups (""""""""late talker"""""""" and """"""""normal vocabulary,"""""""" N=74, 37 per subgroup) with 2 recently collected samples - 1 of late talkers with specific language delay and 1 of typically developing young children - who received the same assessments as those proposed for the ASD participants (Studies 2-7). This longitudinal comparison will utilize a series of group design experimental studies, as well as microgenetic methods, to examine mechanisms and patterns of novel word learning, the link between lexical and grammatical skills, and the relation between early language abilities and verbal repetition. Findings from this project will significantly advance our understanding of the nature of early language development in ASD, will lead to more accurate early diagnosis by clarifying the boundaries between late talkers with and without ASD, and will provide more refined language phenotypes that should direct better fitting treatment approaches.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
3R01DC007223-05S1
Application #
8138133
Study Section
Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Study Section (CPDD)
Program Officer
Cooper, Judith
Project Start
2006-07-01
Project End
2012-06-30
Budget Start
2010-09-03
Budget End
2012-06-30
Support Year
5
Fiscal Year
2010
Total Cost
$27,942
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Pediatrics
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Davidson, Meghan M; Ellis Weismer, Susan (2017) A Discrepancy in Comprehension and Production in Early Language Development in ASD: Is it Clinically Relevant? J Autism Dev Disord 47:2163-2175
Gilbertson, Lynn R; Lutfi, Robert A; Ellis Weismer, Susan (2017) Auditory preference of children with autism spectrum disorders. Cogn Process 18:205-209
Kover, Sara T; Edmunds, Sarah R; Ellis Weismer, Susan (2016) Brief Report: Ages of Language Milestones as Predictors of Developmental Trajectories in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 46:2501-7
Ellawadi, Allison Bean; Ellis Weismer, Susan (2015) Using Spoken Language Benchmarks to Characterize the Expressive Language Skills of Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders. Am J Speech Lang Pathol 24:696-707
Venker, Courtney E; Bolt, Daniel M; Meyer, Allison et al. (2015) Parent Telegraphic Speech Use and Spoken Language in Preschoolers With ASD. J Speech Lang Hear Res 58:1733-46
Ellis Weismer, Susan; Kover, Sara T (2015) Preschool language variation, growth, and predictors in children on the autism spectrum. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 56:1327-37
Esler, Amy N; Bal, Vanessa Hus; Guthrie, Whitney et al. (2015) The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Toddler Module: Standardized Severity Scores. J Autism Dev Disord 45:2704-20
Kover, Sara T; Ellis Weismer, Susan (2014) Lexical characteristics of expressive vocabulary in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder. J Speech Lang Hear Res 57:1428-41
Venker, Courtney E; Ray-Subramanian, Corey E; Bolt, Daniel M et al. (2014) Trajectories of autism severity in early childhood. J Autism Dev Disord 44:546-63
Kover, Sara T; Davidson, Meghan M; Sindberg, Heidi A et al. (2014) Use of the ADOS for assessing spontaneous expressive language in young children with ASD: a comparison of sampling contexts. J Speech Lang Hear Res 57:2221-33

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