Variability and patterns in children's media use and links with language development.

AIM: Media use is widespread and rising, but how often and for what purpose young children use media varies, which has differential impacts on development. Yet little work has measured how and why children under 36 months use digital media or media's consequences for language. METHODS: The current study measures how and why 17- to 30-month-old children use digital media and associations with their language abilities. The amount of use, type of activity and caregiver reasons for children's media use were then compared to the child's vocabulary and mean length of utterance. RESULTS: About 17- to 30-month-old children are primarily exposed to TV/videos over other media forms, which are often used to occupy children. Video time (but not other activities) negatively predicts children's language. The negative impact of videos on vocabulary persists regardless of the reason for use, however, the effect of videos on expressive language may be tempered when videos are used for education or connecting. CONCLUSION: Children under 36 months are using digital media at high rates. What they are doing and why they use media is critical to predict the effect it might have on language development. Further research and anticipatory guidance on the consequences of videos are needed.

Comparing apples to manzanas and oranges to naranjas: A new measure of English-Spanish vocabulary for dual language learners.

The valid assessment of vocabulary development in dual-language-learning infants is critical to developmental science. We developed the Dual Language Learners English-Spanish (DLL-ES) Inventories to measure vocabularies of U.S. English-Spanish DLLs. The inventories provide translation equivalents for all Spanish and English items on Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) short forms; extended inventories based on CDI long forms; and Spanish language-variety options. Item-Response Theory analyses applied to Wordbank and Web-CDI data (n = 2603, 12-18 months; n = 6722, 16-36 months; half female; 1% Asian, 3% Black, 2% Hispanic, 30% White, 64% unknown) showed near-perfect associations between DLL-ES and CDI long-form scores. Interviews with 10 Hispanic mothers of 18- to 24-month-olds (2 White, 1 Black, 7 multi-racial; 6 female) provide a proof of concept for the value of the DLL-ES for assessing the vocabularies of DLLs.

Iconicity ratings for 14,000+ English words.

Iconic words and signs are characterized by a perceived resemblance between aspects of their form and aspects of their meaning. For example, in English, iconic words include peep and crash, which mimic the sounds they denote, and wiggle and zigzag, which mimic motion. As a semiotic property of words and signs, iconicity has been demonstrated to play a role in word learning, language processing, and language evolution. This paper presents the results of a large-scale norming study for more than 14,000 English words conducted with over 1400 American English speakers. We demonstrate the utility of these ratings by replicating a number of existing findings showing that iconicity ratings are related to age of acquisition, sensory modality, semantic neighborhood density, structural markedness, and playfulness. We discuss possible use cases and limitations of the rating dataset, which is made publicly available.

Pre-pandemic Executive Function Protects Against Pandemic Anxiety in Children with and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated depression, anxiety, and executive function (EF) difficulties in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). EF skills have been positively associated with mental health outcomes. Here, we probed the psychosocial impacts of pandemic responses in children with and without ASD by relating pre-pandemic EF assessments with anxiety and depression symptoms several months into the pandemic. We found that pre-pandemic inhibition and shifting difficulties, measured by the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, predicted higher risk of anxiety symptoms. These findings are critical for promoting community recovery and maximizing clinical preparedness to support children at increased risk for adverse psychosocial outcomes.

Automated measures of vocal interactions and engagement in inclusive preschool classrooms.

Classroom engagement plays a crucial role in preschoolers' development, yet the correlates of engagement, especially among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and developmental delays (DD), remains unknown. This study examines levels of engagement with classroom social partners and tasks among children in three groups ASD, DD, and typical development (TD). Here, we asked whether children's vocal interactions (vocalizations to and from peers and teachers) were associated with their classroom engagement with social partners (peers and teachers) and with tasks, and whether the association between classroom engagement and vocal interactions differed between children in the ASD group and their peers in the DD and TD groups. Automated measures of vocalizations and location quantified children's vocal interactions with peers and teachers over the course of the school year. Automated location and vocalization data were used to capture both (1) children's vocal output to specific peers and teachers, and (2) the vocal input they received from those peers and teachers. Participants were 72 3-5-year-olds (Mage = 48.6 months, SD = 7.0, 43% girls) and their teachers. Children in the ASD group displayed lower engagement with peers, teachers, and tasks than children in the TD group; they also showed lower engagement with peers than children in the DD group. Overall, children's own vocalizations were positively associated with engagement with social partners. Thus, although children in the ASD group tend to have lower engagement scores than children in the TD group, active participation in vocal interactions appears to support their classroom engagement with teachers and peers.

Understanding speech and language in tuberous sclerosis complex.

Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC), is a neurocutaneous disorder, associated with a high prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD; ∼50% of individuals). As TSC is a leading cause of syndromic ASD, understanding language development in this population would not only be important for individuals with TSC but may also have implications for those with other causes of syndromic and idiopathic ASD. In this mini review, we consider what is known about language development in this population and how speech and language in TSC are related to ASD. Although up to 70% of individuals with TSC report language difficulties, much of the limited research to date on language in TSC has been based on summary scores from standardized assessments. Missing is a detailed understanding of the mechanisms driving speech and language in TSC and how they relate to ASD. Here, we review recent work suggesting that canonical babbling and volubility-two precursors of language development that predict the emergence of speech and are delayed in infants with idiopathic ASD-are also delayed in infants with TSC. We then look to the broader literature on language development to identify other early precursors of language development that tend to be delayed in children with autism as a guide for future research on speech and language in TSC. We argue that vocal turn-taking, shared attention, and fast mapping are three such skills that can provide important information about how speech and language develop in TSC and where potential delays come from. The overall goal of this line of research is to not only illuminate the trajectory of language in TSC with and without ASD, but to ultimately find strategies for earlier recognition and treatment of the pervasive language difficulties in this population.

Comparing Scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test in Preschoolers With and Without Hearing Loss.

PURPOSE: We sought to compare raw scores, standard scores, and age equivalences on two commonly used vocabulary tests, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT). METHOD: Sixty-two children, 31 with hearing loss (HL) and 31 with normal hearing (NH), were given both the PPVT and ROWPVT as part of an ongoing longitudinal study of emergent literacy development in preschoolers with and without HL. All children were between 3 and 4 years old at administration, and the two tests were administered within 3 weeks of each other. Both tests were given again 6 months later. Standard scores and age equivalencies were calculated for both tests using published guidelines. RESULTS: There was no significant effect of test for any of our analyses. However, there was a main effect of time, with both standard scores and age equivalencies being significantly higher at the second test. Children with NH had significantly higher standard scores and age equivalencies than children with NH, but there was no interaction between hearing status and time, suggesting that the two groups were growing at the same rate. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicians can be comfortable administering both the PPVT and ROWPVT to estimate children's vocabulary levels, but there may be practice effects when administering the tests twice within a calendar year. These data also indicate that children with HL continue to lag behind their peers with NH on vocabulary development. SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23232848.

Objective Measurement of Social Gaze and Smile Behaviors in Children with Suspected Autism Spectrum Disorder During Administration of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition.

Best practice for the assessment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom severity relies on clinician ratings of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd Edition (ADOS-2), but the association of these ratings with objective measures of children's social gaze and smiling is unknown. Sixty-six preschool-age children (49 boys, M = 39.97 months, SD = 10.58) with suspected ASD (61 confirmed ASD) were administered the ADOS-2 and provided social affect calibrated severity scores (SA CSS). Children's social gaze and smiling during the ADOS-2, captured with a camera contained in eyeglasses worn by the examiner and parent, were obtained via a computer vision processing pipeline. Children who gazed more at their parents (p = .04) and whose gaze at their parents involved more smiling (p = .02) received lower social affect severity scores, indicating fewer social affect symptoms, adjusted R2 = .15, p = .003.

Objective quantification of homophily in children with and without disabilities in naturalistic contexts.

Homophily, the tendency for individuals to preferentially interact with others similar to themselves is typically documented via self-report and, for children, adult report. Few studies have investigated homophily directly using objective measures of social movement. We quantified homophily in children with developmental disabilities (DD) and typical development (TD) using objective measures of position/orientation in preschool inclusion classrooms, designed to promote interaction between these groups of children. Objective measurements were collected using ultra-wideband radio-frequency tracking to determine social approach and social contact, measures of social movement and interaction. Observations of 77 preschoolers (47 with DD, and 30 TD) were conducted in eight inclusion classrooms on a total of 26 days. We compared DD and TD groups with respect to how children approached and shared time in social contact with peers using mixed-effects models. Children in concordant dyads (DD-DD and TD-TD) both moved toward each other at higher velocities and spent greater time in social contact than discordant dyads (DD-TD), evidencing homophily. DD-DD dyads spent less time in social contact than TD-TD dyads but were comparable to TD-TD dyads in their social approach velocities. Children's preference for similar peers appears to be a pervasive feature of their naturalistic interactions.

Late bloomer or language disorder? Differences in toddler vocabulary composition associated with long-term language outcomes.

Children with delays in expressive language (late talkers) have heterogeneous developmental trajectories. Some are late bloomers who eventually "catch-up," but others have persisting delays or are later diagnosed with developmental language disorder (DLD). Early in development it is unclear which children will belong to which group. We compare the toddler vocabulary composition of late talkers with different long-term outcomes. The literature suggests most children with typical development (TD) have vocabularies dominated by names for categories organized by similarity in shape (e.g., cup), which supports a bias to attend to shape when generalizing names of novel nouns-a bias associated with accelerated vocabulary development. Previous work has shown that as a group, late talkers tend to say fewer names for categories organized by shape and are less likely to show a "shape bias" than TD children. Here, in a retrospective analysis of 850 children, we compared the vocabulary composition of groups of toddlers who were late bloomers or persisting late talkers. At Time 1 (13-27 months), the persisting late talkers said a smaller proportion of shape-based nouns than both TD children and late bloomers who "caught up" to typically sized vocabularies months later (18-38-months). Additionally, children who received a DLD diagnosis between 4 and 7 years said a significantly smaller proportion of shape-based nouns in year two than TD children and children with other diagnoses (e.g., dyslexia). These findings bring new insight into sources of heterogeneity amongst late talkers and offer a new metric for assessing risk. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Toddler vocabulary composition, including the proportion of names for categories organized by shape, like spoon, was used to retrospectively compare outcomes of late talking children Persisting Late Talkers said a smaller proportion of shape-based nouns during toddlerhood relative to Late Bloomers (late talkers who later caught up to have typically-sized vocabularies) Children with later DLD diagnoses said a smaller proportion of shape-based nouns during toddlerhood relative to children without a DLD diagnosis The data illustrate the cascading effects of vocabulary composition on subsequent language development and suggest vocabulary composition may be one important marker of persisting delays.

Classroom language during COVID-19: Associations between mask-wearing and objectively measured teacher and preschooler vocalizations.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mask-wearing in classrooms has become commonplace. However, there are little data on the effect of face-masks on children's language input and production in educational contexts, like preschool classrooms which over half of United States children attend. Leveraging repeated objective measurements, we longitudinally examined child and teacher speech-related vocalizations in two cohorts of 3.5-4.5-year-old children enrolled in the same oral language classroom that included children with and without hearing loss. Cohort 1 was observed before COVID-19 (no face-masks, N = 20) and Cohort 2 was observed during COVID-19 (with face-masks; N = 15). Vocalization data were collected using child-worn audio recorders over 12 observations spanning two successive school years, yielding 9.09 mean hours of audio recording per child. During COVID-19 teachers produced a higher number of words per minute than teachers observed prior to COVID-19. However, teacher vocalizations during COVID-19 contained fewer unique phonemes than teacher vocalizations prior to COVID-19. Children observed during COVID-19 did not exhibit deficits in the duration, rate, or phonemic diversity of their vocalizations compared to children observed prior to COVID-19. Children observed during COVID-19 produced vocalizations that were longer in duration than vocalizations of children observed prior to COVID-19. During COVID-19 (but not before), children who were exposed to a higher number of words per minute from teachers produced more speech-related vocalizations per minute themselves. Overall, children with hearing loss were exposed to teacher vocalizations that were longer in duration, more teacher words per minute, and more phonemically diverse teacher speech than children with typical hearing. In terms of production, children with hearing loss produced vocalizations that were longer in duration than the vocalizations of children with typical hearing. Among children observed during COVID-19, children with hearing loss exhibited a higher vocalization rate than children with typical hearing. These results suggest that children's language production is largely unaffected by mask use in the classroom and that children can benefit from the language they are exposed to despite teacher mask-wearing.

Coordination of Caregiver Naming and Children's Exploration of Solid Objects and Nonsolid Substances.

When a caregiver names objects dominating a child's view, the association between object and name is unambiguous and children are more likely to learn the object's name. Children also learn to name things other than solid objects, including nonsolid substances like applesauce. However, it is unknown how caregivers structure linguistic and exploratory experiences with nonsolids to support learning. In this exploratory study of caregivers and children (n = 14, 8 girls; M = 20.50 months) we compare caregiver-child free-play with novel solid objects and novel nonsolid substances to identify the linguistic and exploratory experiences associated with children's word learning. We found systematic differences in interactions with novel objects, such that children performed more manual actions on solids than nonsolids and caregivers named solids more than nonsolids. Additionally, there was less synchrony between caregivers' naming and children's manual and visual exploration of nonsolids than solids. Consistent with prior work, we found that synchronous naming was associated with accurate recognition of solid object names. However, naming synchrony was not associated with recognition of nonsolid substance names or with generalization. Together these findings, though exploratory, suggest the coordination of caregiver-child play can shape what children remember about novel word-object associations for solid objects, but not nonsolid substances.

Objective measurement of vocalizations in the assessment of autism spectrum disorder symptoms in preschool age children.

Assessment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) relies on expert clinician observation and judgment, but objective measurement tools have the potential to provide additional information on ASD symptom severity. Diagnostic evaluations for ASD typically include the autism diagnostic observation schedule (ADOS-2), a semi-structured assessment composed of a series of social presses. The current study examined associations between concurrent objective features of child vocalizations during the ADOS-2 and examiner-rated autism symptom severity. The sample included 66 children (49 male; M = 40 months, SD = 10.58) evaluated in a university-based clinic, 61 of whom received an ASD diagnosis. Research reliable administration of the ADOS-2 provided social affect (SA) and restricted and repetitive behavior (RRB) calibrated severity scores (CSS). Audio was recorded from examiner-worn eyeglasses during the ADOS-2 and child and adult speech were differentiated with LENA SP Hub. PRAAT was used to ascertain acoustic features of the audio signal, specifically the mean fundamental vocal frequency (F0) of LENA-identified child speech-like vocalizations (those with phonemic content), child cry vocalizations, and adult speech. Sphinx-4 was employed to estimate child and adult phonological features indexed by the average consonant and vowel count per vocalization. More than a quarter of the variance in ADOS-2 RRB CSS was predicted by the combination of child phoneme count per vocalization and child vocalization F0. Findings indicate that both acoustic and phonological features of child vocalizations are associated with expert clinician ratings of autism symptom severity. LAY SUMMARY: Determination of the severity of autism spectrum disorder is based in part on expert (but subjective) clinician observations during the ADOS-2. Two characteristics of child vocalizations-a smaller number of speech-like sounds per vocalization and higher pitched vocalizations (including cries)-were associated with greater autism symptom severity. The results suggest that objectively ascertained characteristics of children's vocalizations capture variance in children's restricted and repetitive behaviors that are reflected in clinician severity indices.

Reciprocal Patterns of Peer Speech in Preschoolers with and without Hearing Loss.

Children with hearing loss often attend inclusive preschool classrooms aimed at improving their spoken language skills. Although preschool classrooms are fertile environments for vocal interaction with peers, little is known about the dyadic processes that influence children's speech to one another and foster their language abilities and how these processes may vary in children with hearing loss. We used new objective measurement approaches to identify and quantify children's vocalizations during social contact, as determined by children's proximity and mutual orientation. The contributions of peer vocalizations to children's future vocalizations and language abilities were examined in oral language inclusion classrooms containing children with hearing loss who use hearing aids or cochlear implants and their typically hearing peers. Across over 600 hours of recorded vocal interactions of twenty-nine 2.5-3.5 year olds (16 girls) in three cohorts of children in a classroom, we found that vocalizations from each peer on a given observation predicted a child's vocalizations to that same peer on the subsequent observation. Children who produced more vocalizations to their peers had higher receptive and expressive language abilities, as measured by a standardized end-of-year language assessment. In fact, vocalizations from peers had an indirect association with end-of-year language abilities as mediated by children's vocalizations to peers. These findings did not vary as a function of hearing status. Overall, then, the results demonstrate the importance of dyadic peer vocal interactions for children's language use and abilities.

Simulating COVID19 transmission from observed movement.

Current models of COVID-19 transmission predict infection from reported or assumed interactions. Here we leverage high-resolution observations of interaction to simulate infectious processes. Ultra-Wide Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems were employed to track the real-time physical movements and directional orientation of children and their teachers in 4 preschool classes over a total of 34 observations. An agent-based transmission model combined observed interaction patterns (individual distance and orientation) with CDC-published risk guidelines to estimate the transmission impact of an infected patient zero attending class on the proportion of overall infections, the average transmission rate, and the time lag to the appearance of symptomatic individuals. These metrics highlighted the prophylactic role of decreased classroom density and teacher vaccinations. Reduction of classroom density to half capacity was associated with an 18.2% drop in overall infection proportion while teacher vaccination receipt was associated with a 25.3% drop. Simulation results of classroom transmission dynamics may inform public policy in the face of COVID-19 and similar infectious threats.

Objectively measured teacher and preschooler vocalizations: Phonemic diversity is associated with language abilities.

Over half of US children are enrolled in preschools, where the quantity and quality of language input from teachers are likely to affect children's language development. Leveraging repeated objective measurements, we examined the rate per minute and phonemic diversity of child and teacher speech-related vocalizations in preschool classrooms and their association with children's end-of-year receptive and expressive language abilities measured with the Preschool Language Scales (PLS-5). Phonemic diversity was computed as the number of unique consonants and vowels in a speech-related vocalization. We observed three successive cohorts of 2.5-3.5-year-old children enrolled in an oral language classroom that included children with and without hearing loss (N = 29, 16 girls, 14 Hispanic). Vocalization data were collected using child-worn audio recorders over 34 observations spanning three successive school years, yielding 21.53 mean hours of audio recording per child. The rate of teacher vocalizations positively predicted the rate of children's speech-related vocalizations while the phonemic diversity of teacher vocalizations positively predicted the phonemic diversity of children's speech-related vocalizations. The phonemic diversity of children's speech-related vocalizations was a stronger predictor of end-of-year language abilities than the rate of children's speech-related vocalizations. Mediation analyses indicated that the phonemic diversity of teacher vocalizations was associated with children's receptive and expressive language abilities to the extent that it influenced the phonemic diversity of children's own speech-related vocalizations. The results suggest that qualitatively richer language input expands the phonemic diversity of children's speech, which in turn is associated with language abilities.

Vocabulary Development and the Shape Bias in Children With Hearing Loss.

Purpose Although children with hearing loss (HL) can benefit from cochlear implants (CIs) and hearing aids (HAs), they often show language delays. Moreover, little is known about the mechanisms by which children with HL learn words. One mechanism by which typically hearing (TH) children learn words is by acquiring word learning biases such as the "shape bias," that is, generalizing the names of novel solid objects by similarity in shape. In TH children, the shape bias emerges out of regularities in the early vocabulary and, once acquired, has consequences for subsequent vocabulary development. Method Here, we ask whether children with HL exhibit similar word learning biases as TH children. In the current study, nineteen 2- to 3.5-year-old children with HL generalized the names of novel objects by similarity in shape or material. We compared their performance to that of 20 TH children matched on age and 20 TH children matched on vocabulary size. Results Children with HL were significantly less likely than age-matched TH children and vocabulary-matched TH children to generalize novel names to objects of the same shape. However, there was also an interaction such that vocabulary has a stronger effect on novel noun generalization for those with HL than for those who are TH. Exploratory analyses of children with HL reveal similar novel noun generalization and vocabulary sizes in children who use CIs and those who use HAs, regardless of hearing age or degree of HL. Conclusion Together, the results suggest that, although vocabulary knowledge drives development of the shape bias in general for all children, it may be especially important for children with HL, who are at risk for language delays.

A granular perspective on inclusion: Objectively measured interactions of preschoolers with and without autism.

Children's preschool experiences have consequences for development. However, it is not clear how children's real-time interactions with peers affect their language development; nor is it clear whether these processes differ between children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and two other groups of children, those with general developmental delays (DD) and typically developing (TD) children. We used objective measures of movement and vocalizations to quantify children's real-time dyadic vocal interactions and quantify classroom social networks. Participants included 56 preschoolers (22 female; M = 50.14 months) in five inclusive classrooms for children with ASD or DD and their TD peers. Each class was observed monthly on two to five occasions. Overall, children vocalized more to peers who had vocalized more to them in the previous observation. These dyadic vocalization patterns were associated with group differences in social network analyses. Modularity, the cohesiveness of group ties, was lower among children with ASD than it was among TD children or children with DD. Individually, children with ASD exhibited lower total levels of vocalizations with peers (lower degree centrality) than TD children and children with DD. In an exploratory analysis with a subset of the participants, children's degree centrality was strongly associated with their end-of-year assessed language abilities, even when accounting for mean differences between groups. Findings highlight the impact peers and social networks play in real-time language use and in the developing language abilities of children with ASD in inclusion classrooms. LAY SUMMARY: This study objectively measured associations between children's peer vocal interactions and assessed language abilities in inclusion classrooms for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their peers. All children benefited from peers talking to them, but children with ASD were less central to classroom speech networks than were typically developing children. Children's centrality to social speech networks, regardless of ASD status, was associated with assessed language abilities.

What Is the Buzz About Iconicity? How Iconicity in Caregiver Speech Supports Children's Word Learning.

One cue that may facilitate children's word learning is iconicity, or the correspondence between a word's form and meaning. Some have even proposed that iconicity in the early lexicon may serve to help children learn how to learn words, supporting the acquisition of even noniconic, or arbitrary, word-referent associations. However, this proposal remains untested. Here, we investigate the iconicity of caregivers' speech to young children during a naturalistic free-play session with novel stimuli and ask whether the iconicity of caregivers' speech facilitates children's learning of the noniconic novel names of those stimuli. Thirty-four 1.5-2-year-olds (19 girls; half monolingual English learners and half bilingual English-Spanish learners) participated in a naturalistic free-play task with their caregivers followed by a test of word-referent retention. We found that caregivers' use of iconicity, particularly in utterances in which they named the novel stimuli, was associated with the likelihood that children learned that novel name. This result held even when controlling for other factors associated with word learning, such as the concreteness and frequency of words in caregiver speech. Together, the results demonstrate that iconicity not only can serve to help children identify the referent of novel words (as in previous research) but can also support their ability to retain even noniconic word-referent mappings.