Study 3 Learning Verbs and Pronouns

The goal of this research is to explore abilities to learn word meanings from overheard conversations in children with ASD (and, as a control, typically developing children).

Specific Aim 3 (Experiment 3): Determine whether children with ASD can learn verbs and pronouns by overhearing. Most prior work on learning from overheard speech has focused on learning nouns that label objects. This experiment extends this work to study other kinds of words.

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Addressed Speech; Behavioral: Overheard Speech

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 179
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Sudha Arunachalam, PhD; Phone Number: 212-998-4139; Email: sudha@nyu.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Massachusetts
    • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02116
      • Emerson College
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10012
      • New York University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 5 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• children with or without a diagnosis of ASD between 24 to 71 months of age
• minimum language and nonverbal cognition age of 24 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• native language is not English
• born premature (< 36 weeks)
• has uncorrected hearing or vision impairments
• has developmental disorders or medical conditions other than ASD that affect language or cognition (excepting psychiatric conditions often comorbid with ASD such as ADHD)
• has a history of photosensitive epileptic seizures

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Non-Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Single

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Addressed; Children participate in an interaction with an experimenter who uses the word to be learned.	Behavioral: Addressed Speech; New words are introduced directly to the child by an experimenter.
Experimental: Overheard; Children are present in the room while an experimenter uses the word to be learned in an interaction with another experimenter.	Behavioral: Overheard Speech; New words are introduced with the child as a bystander rather directly taught.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Object selection	The first object that children touch after being prompted.	During test phase of the experimental session (e.g., within 5 seconds)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: New York University
• Collaborators: Emerson College

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): August 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Estimated): February 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): March 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 3, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 13, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): January 18, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): November 16, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 14, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Neurodevelopmental Disorders; Child Development Disorders, Pervasive; Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Other Study ID Numbers: 280523

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No