Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, United States.
Waisman Center, Madison, WI, United States.
J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Apr;54(4):1376-1388. doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05883-7. Epub 2023 Jan 13.
ASD is associated with relative strengths in the visuospatial domain but varying abilities in the linguistic domain. Previous studies suggest parallels between spatial language and spatial cognition in older autistic individuals, but no research to date has examined this relationship in young autistic children. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the connection between children's spatial language production and nonverbal spatial cognition over time. We also examined two potential predictors of spatial language observed in previous literature, ASD symptom severity and parent spatial language input.
In past work investigating spatial language in NT children of the same age, parent-child interactions have been a primary context for study. Therefore, in the present study, we analyzed transcripts of dyadic naturalistic play interactions between autistic children and their parents over three visits from age 30 to 66 months and administered standardized cognitive and ASD diagnostic assessments at each visit.
Spatial language production was related to nonverbal spatial cognition even when accounting for overall language production, though the strength of that relationship decreased over time. Parent spatial input (but not ASD severity) significantly predicted children's spatial language production over and above the effect of overall language production.
Spatial language is associated with spatial cognition in young autistic children and appears to reflect the interaction of overall linguistic skills and nonverbal spatial cognitive ability regardless of autism severity. Parent-mediated interventions may be a promising context for increasing spatial language in autistic preschoolers.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）与视觉空间领域的相对优势相关，但在语言领域的能力则各不相同。先前的研究表明，在年长的自闭症个体中，空间语言和空间认知之间存在相似之处，但迄今为止，尚无研究探讨自闭症幼儿的这种关系。因此，本研究的目的是调查儿童空间语言产生与非言语空间认知随时间的关系。我们还研究了以往文献中观察到的两种空间语言的潜在预测因素，即 ASD 症状严重程度和父母的空间语言输入。
在针对具有相同年龄的正常发育儿童的空间语言的先前研究中，亲子互动是主要的研究背景。因此，在本研究中，我们分析了自闭症儿童及其父母在 30 至 66 个月期间三次自然互动游戏的对话记录，并在每次访问时进行了标准化认知和 ASD 诊断评估。
即使考虑到整体语言产生，空间语言产生也与非言语空间认知相关，尽管这种关系随着时间的推移而减弱。父母的空间输入（而非 ASD 严重程度）在整体语言产生的影响之外，显著预测了儿童的空间语言产生。
在自闭症幼儿中，空间语言与空间认知相关，并且似乎反映了整体语言技能和非言语空间认知能力的相互作用，而与自闭症严重程度无关。父母介导的干预措施可能是增加自闭症学龄前儿童空间语言的有前途的方法。
