Speech and faces are important influences for social and language development of typically developing infants. The lack of attention to speech and faces may indicate a delay or impediment of a child’s social and language development. For example, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit insufficiencies in simple processing of speech and faces of people.
The first aim of the study was to determine if preference for infant-direct (ID) speech and faces differs between infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (SIBS-A) and infant siblings of typically developing children (SIIBS-TD). The second goal of the study was to observe whether speech and face preferences predict language abilities and risk group inclusion. …show more content…
On each testing date, infants were presented two adult-directed (AD) speech and two ID speech samples each coupled with an image of a black and white female face or a black and white checkerboard. The infant’s expressive language was tested at 12 and 18 months and general functioning was assessed at 12 months employing the Mullen Scales of Early Learning.
ID speech was preferred over AD speech and faces were preferred over checkerboards for both sets of infants. Even though both groups observed the face longer than the checkerboard, the extent of the preference was slighter for the SIBS-A and correlated with expressive vocabulary at 18 months for these infants. Therefore, the degree of face preference contributed to risk-group inclusion. Also, SIBS-TD displayed greater expressive language at 18 months than SIBS-A.
Infants with a higher risk of ASD differ from typically developing infants in their inclinations for ID speech and facial preferences, which may cause insufficiencies in future language development and social communication. The results from this study indicate that deficits in attending to ID speech and faces may help to identify higher risk infants who can profit from early …show more content…
In this study, language results correlated with early speech biases, signifying that a partiality for ID speech during early childhood may enable future expressive language development. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) should be aware that a preference for ID speech is characteristic of typically developing infants so that red flags are raised when observing a child who does not show this partiality. Speech-language pathologists should also be mindful of the 15% probability of cognitive or language deficits in siblings of children with ASD. Because of an increased likelihood of language delay in siblings of children with ASD, these infants should be closely observed during the first two years of life to look for indications for risk group membership. When following SIBS-A, SLPs should remember a lesser preference for faces may raise the chance of their inclusion in the risk
The first aim of the study was to determine if preference for infant-direct (ID) speech and faces differs between infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (SIBS-A) and infant siblings of typically developing children (SIIBS-TD). The second goal of the study was to observe whether speech and face preferences predict language abilities and risk group inclusion. …show more content…
On each testing date, infants were presented two adult-directed (AD) speech and two ID speech samples each coupled with an image of a black and white female face or a black and white checkerboard. The infant’s expressive language was tested at 12 and 18 months and general functioning was assessed at 12 months employing the Mullen Scales of Early Learning.
ID speech was preferred over AD speech and faces were preferred over checkerboards for both sets of infants. Even though both groups observed the face longer than the checkerboard, the extent of the preference was slighter for the SIBS-A and correlated with expressive vocabulary at 18 months for these infants. Therefore, the degree of face preference contributed to risk-group inclusion. Also, SIBS-TD displayed greater expressive language at 18 months than SIBS-A.
Infants with a higher risk of ASD differ from typically developing infants in their inclinations for ID speech and facial preferences, which may cause insufficiencies in future language development and social communication. The results from this study indicate that deficits in attending to ID speech and faces may help to identify higher risk infants who can profit from early …show more content…
In this study, language results correlated with early speech biases, signifying that a partiality for ID speech during early childhood may enable future expressive language development. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) should be aware that a preference for ID speech is characteristic of typically developing infants so that red flags are raised when observing a child who does not show this partiality. Speech-language pathologists should also be mindful of the 15% probability of cognitive or language deficits in siblings of children with ASD. Because of an increased likelihood of language delay in siblings of children with ASD, these infants should be closely observed during the first two years of life to look for indications for risk group membership. When following SIBS-A, SLPs should remember a lesser preference for faces may raise the chance of their inclusion in the risk