Events
Fall 2023
"She, They, He, Ze: A Discussion of Pronouns, Language and Respect"Tuesday, October 17, 2023 | 5:30-6:30+pm
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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder of early onset defined by core deficits in social communication and restrictive interests/repetitive behaviors. Although ASD is no longer defined by deficits in spoken language, children with autism are universally delayed in speech and language acquisition, 25% of children diagnosed with ASD will never learn to talk, and early language ability continues to be the best prognostic indicator of long-term outcome in adulthood, underscoring the importance of early detection and intervention. This talk presents the results of a large-scale prospective longitudinal study of early vocal development conducted over 10 years as part of an NIH Autism Center of Excellence, aiming to develop vocal biomarkers for autism and related developmental disorders. Using new techniques for automated voice analysis, applied to all-day home audio recordings collected monthly from 500 infants from birth to 3 years, differences in developmental trajectories of infant vocal behavior, caregiver response, and infant-caregiver contingency were found within the first year of life that predict later autism diagnosis and language outcome at 24 months and identify new pathways for early intervention. This lecture is cosponsored by: The Department of Psychology. |