Poster #75 - Language Abilities and Conversational Turn-Taking with Teachers Among Preschoolers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder

• In Event: Poster Session 14

Abstract

Preschoolers’ language environments are predictors of academic achievement and linguistic development. Participation in high quality preschools is especially important for children with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which are associated with increased likelihood of language delay. One characteristic of high-quality language environments in the home is conversational turn-taking between a child and parent, which is positively associated with children’s language abilities. However, little is known about conversational turn-taking in preschool classrooms where multiple children (with and without ASD and other developmental disabilities, DD) interact with multiple teachers. Here, we predict children’s rate of conversational turn-taking with teachers in inclusive classrooms from children’s assessed language abilities, asking whether associations between assessed language ability and real-time conversational turn-taking behavior differ between children with and without ASD.
We examined 72 children (M=48.57 months, SD=7.02; 41 girls) in 8 inclusion preschool classrooms. Information about each classroom is presented in Table 1. Sixty-three were Hispanic (61 White, 1 Black, 1 multiracial); 9 were non-Hispanic (8 White, 1 Black). Group was determined by the primary category of eligibility on children’s Individualized Education Program (IEP; ASD group, n=21; developmental delay or DD group, n=22, and typically developing or TD group [no IEP], n=29). We used the LENA system to collect monthly day-long audio recordings in each class and estimate the rate of conversational turns children engaged in with their teachers. Children’s expressive and receptive language abilities were assessed with the Preschool Language Scales, Fifth Edition (PLS-5) total standard scores.
We used a linear mixed effects regression model to predict children’s mean rate of conversational turns per hour from their group, PLS-5 score, and the interaction between group and PLS-5 score. Children were nested in classrooms. We found significant group differences such that children with ASD engaged in significantly fewer conversational turns than TD children, t=2.20, p=.031. There was also a main effect of PLS-5 total score, t=2.19, p=.032, such that children with higher language abilities engaged in more conversational turns. These effects were conditioned by a significant interaction such that the association between PLS-5 score and turn-taking was weaker for children with ASD than for TD children, t=-2.02, p=.048 (Figure 1). There were no differences between children with ASD and DD, p=.659.
We found a positive association between children’s language abilities and conversational turn-taking in inclusion preschool classrooms, similar to what has been found in the home. Children with ASD engaged in fewer conversational turns than TD children. Furthermore, language abilities were a poorer predictor of conversational turn counts for children with ASD than TD children. This suggests for the ASD group that non-linguistic factors, such as differences in social communication or affect, may play a larger role in supporting opportunities for conversation and rich language input from teachers and that assessed language ability is an unreliable predictor of pragmatic language ability for children with ASD in inclusion classrooms.

Authors

• Catalina E. Cepero
  Presenting Author

• Eraine Leland, University of Miami

• Regina Fasano, University of Miami

• Daniel Messinger, University of Miami

• Lynn K Perry, University of Miami