Open AccessIt Takes All Kinds (of Information) to Learn a Language: Investigating the Language Comprehension of Typical Children and Children With Autism
Author(s) -
Letitia R. Naigles
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
current directions in psychological science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.638
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1467-8721
pISSN - 0963-7214
DOI - 10.1177/0963721420969404
Subject(s) - psychology , autism , comprehension , language development , theory of mind , autism spectrum disorder , linguistics , language acquisition , developmental psychology , typically developing , cognitive psychology , cognition , philosophy , mathematics education , neuroscience
What factors influence children's understanding of language, in both typical and atypical development? In this article, I summarize findings from the Longitudinal Study of Early Language (LSEL), which has been following the talk, understanding, and interactions of typically developing (TD) children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The LSEL has found group similarities in syntactic understanding and word learning strategies, but also within-group variability that correlates with other aspects of the children's behavior. In particular, early linguistic knowledge and social abilities are both shown to play independent roles in later talk and understanding. Thus, theoretical perspectives that highlight social vs. linguistic underpinnings to language development should be viewed as complementary rather than competing.