Use of Mutual Exclusivity and Its Relationship to Language Ability in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Overview

Journal J Autism Dev Disord

Publisher Springer

Date 2021 Oct 29

PMID 34714426

Citations 2

Authors

Janine Mathee-Scott

Caroline Larson

Courtney Venker

Ron Pomper

Jan Edwards

Jenny Saffran

Susan Ellis Weismer

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

To efficiently learn new words, children use constraints such as mutual exclusivity (ME) to narrow the search for potential referents. The current study investigated the use of ME in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical (NT) peers matched on nonverbal cognition. Thirty-two toddlers with ASD and 26 NT toddlers participated in a looking-while-listening task. Images of novel and familiar objects were presented along with a novel or familiar label. Overall, toddlers with ASD showed less efficient looking toward a novel referent when a novel label was presented compared to NT toddlers, controlling for age and familiar word knowledge. However, toddlers with ASD and higher language ability demonstrated more robust use of ME than those with lower language ability.

Citing Articles

Factors associated with receptive and expressive language in autistic children and siblings: A systematic review.

Mues M, Schaubroeck S, Demurie E, Roeyers H Autism Dev Lang Impair. 2024; 9:23969415241253554.

PMID: 38746787 PMC: 11092550. DOI: 10.1177/23969415241253554.

Naturalistic parent-child reading frequency and language development in toddlers with and without autism.

Mathee-Scott J, Weismer S Autism Dev Lang Impair. 2022; 7:23969415221136740.

PMID: 36438160 PMC: 9685215. DOI: 10.1177/23969415221136740.

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