Study 1 Replication and Extension of Prior Work

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Interventions: Behavioral: Addressed Speech; Behavioral: Overheard Speech

• Registration Number: NCT04166591
• Lead Sponsor: New York University

Brief Summary

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 1 (Experiment 1): Subaim 1a: Identify child characteristics associated with learning from overhearing. In a prior study, the investigators found that 13 children with ASD were able to learn the meanings of novel words that they heard used in a conversation involving two adults. In the current study, the investigators aim to study a larger sample to identify what child characteristics are associated with good learning in an overhearing situation as compared to a situation in which the child is directly taught the new word. Subaim 1b: Assess retention and generalization of words learned from overhearing. The investigators will re-test children on their knowledge of the word meanings after a 10-minute delay to see if they both retain the word meanings and can generalize the new words to new situations.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2019-10-31
• Study First Submitted QC: 2019-11-14
• Study First Posted: 2019-11-18
• Study Start: 2021-01-05
• Status Verified: 2024-11
• Primary Completion: 2024-12-01
• Study Completion: 2024-12-05
• Results First Submitted: 2025-01-06
• Results First Submitted QC: 2025-02-28
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-03-19
• Results First Posted: 2025-03-20
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-04

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 342

Inclusion Criteria

• children with or without a diagnosis of ASD between 18 to 71 months of age

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 & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: CROSSOVER

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Addressed	Addressed Speech	Children participate in an interaction with an experimenter who uses the word to be learned.
Overheard	Overheard Speech	Children are present in the room while an experimenter uses the word to be learned in an interaction with another experimenter.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of Children Who Select the Target Object as Measured by Gaze Preference.	5 minutes after viewing interaction	Children are prompted to identify the object that is associated with the target word.

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Emerson College; 🇺🇸 Boston, Massachusetts, United States

New York University; 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States