#51 - Lexical Diversity Within Infant-Directed Speech and Its Association with Volubility and Language Outcomes in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Research shows that Infant-Directed Speech (IDS) may facilitate positive language development in both typically developing and language delayed children. However, this is not as well documented in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social and language difficulties (Northrup & Iverson, 2015). One form of IDS known as motherese, baby talk, or baby register (IDS/BR; Farran, Lee, Yoo, & Oller, 2016) is characterized by salient acoustic features and prosodic variations (Fernald & Mazzie, 1991; Saint Georges et. al. 2013) such as higher pitch, shorter utterances, and variable intonation; it is used by mothers when interacting with their infants and young children. Another form of IDS, known as adult register (IDS/AR), does not include such features and has also been found to be used by mothers at least 30% of the time when communicating with their young children, particularly with those who have higher language and volubility (amount of vocalizations) levels. Recent research suggests that both IDS/BR and IDS/AR may play an important role in early vocal and language development. In addition to register use, lexical diversity has been associated with communication and language development and may be representative of children and mothers’ everyday vocabulary richness (Owen & Leonard, 2002). This study explores the relationship between maternal differential use of registers (IDS/BR and IDS/AR), maternal lexical diversity, and volubility (amount of vocalizations) of young children with ASD. Using audio recordings collected in families’ homes during free play interactions, we segmented and coded maternal and child speech utterances in PRAAT and computed lexical diversity using D (Lai & Schwanenflugel, 2016). We hypothesize that a higher use of maternal lexical diversity and IDS/AR will be associated with increased child lexical diversity and volubility. The results of this study may inform early language intervention practices in children with ASD.

Keywords:

Lexical Diversity

Volubility

Infant Directed Speech

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Language Development

Mother/Child Interaction

Home Environment

Presentation Type: Poster

Field of Study: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Daylin Deyton is an undergraduate senior student of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: ddeyton1@my.westga.edu

Amanda Melville is an undergraduate senior student of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: amelvil1@my.westga.edu

Sydney Carroll is an undergraduate senior student of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: scarrol5@my.westga.edu

Savannah Tomberlin is an undergraduate senior student of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: stomber1@my.westga.edu

Madison Winstead is a graduate student of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: mwinste1@my.westga.edu

Brittany Sloan is a graduate student of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: bsloan1@my.westga.edu

Lama K. Farran, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is an associate professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of West Georgia.

Email: lfarran@westga.edu

Citations:

Farran, L.K., Lee, C-C, Yoo, H., & Oller, D.K. (2016) Cross-cultural register differences in infant-directed speech: An initial study. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151518. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0151518

Fernald, A., & Mazzie, K. C. (1991). Prosody and focus in speech to infants and adults. Developmental Psychology, 27, 209–221.doi: 10.1037/0012-1649.27.2.209

Lai, S. A., & Schwanenflugel, P. J. (2016). Validating the Use of D for Measuring Lexical Diversity in Low-Income Kindergarten Children. Language, Speech & Hearing Services in Schools, 47(3), 225–235.

Northrup, J., & Iverson, J. (2015). Vocal coordination during early parent–infant interactions predicts language outcome in infant siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder. Infancy, 20(5), 523-547.

Owen, A. J., & Leonard, L. B. (2002). Lexical diversity in the spontaneous speech of children with specific language impairment: Application of D. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 45(5), 927–937. doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2002/075)

Saint-Georges, C., Chetouani, M., Cassel, R., Apicella, F., Mahdhaoui, A., Muratori, F., … Cohen, D. (2013). Motherese in interaction: At the cross-road of emotion and cognition? (a systematic review). PLoS ONE, 8(10), 1. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078103