SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Assessing Early Language Comprehension in Young Children with ASD: Comparing Looking-While-Listening and Parent Report  
Author(s)
Courtney Venker - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center
Eileen Haebig - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center, Communication Sciences and Disorders
Jenny Saffran - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center, Dept. of Psychology
Jan Edwards - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center, Communication Science and Disorders
Susan Ellis Weismer - University of Wisconsin-Madison, Waisman Center, Communication Science and Disorders

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2015
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation
Poster Number:
Presentation Time: (na)
Categories
Abstract
Rationale. Comprehension is commonly measured by parent report, but it may be difficult for parents of children with ASD to accurately judge their child’s language comprehension. We compared parent report to looking-while-listening (LWL), which assesses comprehension by presenting two images on a screen, along with accompanying speech.
Methods. Twenty-four 30-month-olds with ASD participated. Parents completed the CDI. Children completed a LWL task. Trials were included if the target was reported as unknown.
Results. Children spent significantly more time looking at the target after it was named than before (p = .04).
Conclusions. In a LWL task, children with ASD understood nouns their parents reported as unknown. Parent report may underestimate comprehension in young children with ASD compared to LWL. Future work should continue to investigate the agreement between parent report and LWL with a goal not of identifying which method is correct, but of learning what each method tells us and what it does not.

Funding source(s): R01 DC012513 (Ellis Weismer, Edwards, Saffran), P30 HD003352 (Mailick)