Problems in receptive and expressive language in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) create significant barriers in cognitive and social development and in long-term outcomes, such as the ability to live independently. There is significant variability in language skills in children with ASD, ranging from an absence of functional verbal communication to relatively spared language (Kjelgaard & Tager-Flusberg, 2001; Paul, 2007; Tager-Flusberg, 2004). With reports of 1 in 68 children now identified as having an ASD (Centers for Disease Control, 2014), understanding the source of deficits in spoken language is crucial, as language skill is a key predictor of developmental outcome in this population (Venter et al. 1992). One candidate source of the observed heterogeneity in language is reduced looking to faces of others in children with ASD (e.g., Hobson et al., 1988; Klin et al., 2002). This limited gaze to the face may have cascading effects on language learning by reducing 1) access to the visible aspects of a speaker's articulations and 2) the likelihood of imitation of other's visible speech gestures. In the current proposal, sensitive neurobiological and behavioral techniques including event related potentials (ERP) and eye tracking will be paired with novel speech tasks to provide a window on the factors that underlie the perception of audio and visual (AV) speech in children and adolescents with ASD. This work extends our understanding of the behavioral and neurobiological underpinnings of AV speech perception, which may have important implications for the acquisition of spoken language. 1

Public Health Relevance

Problems with spoken language can be severely limiting for an individual with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), impacting learning, social skills and in long-term outcomes, such as the ability to live independently. We propose that inattention to a speaker's face is a possible source of these language impairments. Using a non- invasive technique we will assess neural response and eye gaze to the face in children and adolescents with ASD while they watch videos of speakers producing syllables and words. 1

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Academic Research Enhancement Awards (AREA) (R15)
Project #
2R15DC013864-02
Application #
9516348
Study Section
Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities Study Section (CPDD)
Program Officer
Cooper, Judith
Project Start
2014-05-01
Project End
2021-04-30
Budget Start
2018-05-01
Budget End
2021-04-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2018
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
Southern Connecticut State University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
145900825
City
New Haven
State
CT
Country
United States
Zip Code
Turcios, Jacqueline; Cook, Barbara; Irwin, Julia et al. (2017) A Familiarization Protocol Facilitates the Participation of Children with ASD in Electrophysiological Research. J Vis Exp :
Irwin, Julia; DiBlasi, Lori (2017) Audiovisual speech perception: A new approach and implications for clinical populations. Lang Linguist Compass 11:77-91
Irwin, Julia; Avery, Trey; Turcios, Jacqueline et al. (2017) Electrophysiological Indices of Audiovisual Speech Perception in the Broader Autism Phenotype. Brain Sci 7:
Irwin, Julia; Turcios, Jacqueline (2017) Teaching and learning guide for audiovisual speech perception: A new approach and implications for clinical populations. Lang Linguist Compass 11:92-97
Irwin, Julia; Brancazio, Lawrence; Volpe, Nicole (2017) The development of gaze to a speaking face. J Acoust Soc Am 141:3145
Cuevas, Kimberly; Paulus, Markus (2016) Development of action mirroring. Br J Dev Psychol 34:1-5
Preston, Jonathan L; Irwin, Julia R; Turcios, Jacqueline (2015) Perception of Speech Sounds in School-Aged Children with Speech Sound Disorders. Semin Speech Lang 36:224-33
Irwin, Julia; Preston, Jonathan; Brancazio, Lawrence et al. (2015) Development of an audiovisual speech perception app for children with autism spectrum disorders. Clin Linguist Phon 29:76-83
Irwin, Julia R; Brancazio, Lawrence (2014) Seeing to hear? Patterns of gaze to speaking faces in children with autism spectrum disorders. Front Psychol 5:397
Preston, Jonathan L; Molfese, Peter J; Gumkowski, Nina et al. (2014) Neurophysiology of speech differences in childhood apraxia of speech. Dev Neuropsychol 39:385-403