Parental Language Input Predicts Neuroscillatory Patterns Associated with Language Development in Toddlers at Risk of Autism.
Rachel R Romeo, Boin Choi, Laurel J Gabard-Durnam and 5 others
PMID 34185234WHAT IT FOUND
In the whole sample, input did not predict resting gamma brain activity, and resting gamma brain activity did not predict language scores.
In high-risk toddlers, more words and richer caregiver language were linked to better expressive language, especially if autism was later diagnosed.
Key findings
01In the whole sample, parent input did not predict gamma power, and gamma power did not correlate with receptive or expressive language scores.
02In high-risk toddlers, the number of parent words and the number of unique parent words at 18 months predicted expressive language scores at 24 months, but these predictions were not significant in low-risk toddlers.
03Among high-risk toddlers who later received ASD diagnoses, higher parent word count, word diversity, and average utterance length were associated with lower frontal and temporal gamma power, and lower gamma power was associated with higher expressive language scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
Only 46 toddlers had complete 18-month input, 24-month EEG, and 24-month language data; the later-ASD and no-ASD high-risk subgroups were 10 and 12 children. Parent language input came from one 10-minute lab play session, which may not represent a child's usual day. The analysis tested several input, EEG, and language measures without correcting for multiple comparisons, so some findings need replication. The sample was mostly non-Hispanic white, highly educated, and higher income, which limits generalization. The study was observational, so it cannot show that more caregiver input causes better language or that gamma power is the mechanism. Many children from the larger study did not have usable videos or EEG data, and four children received diagnosis at 24 months rather than 36 months because of attrition.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that increasing caregiver words, vocabulary diversity, or grammatical complexity will improve language in toddlers at risk of autism. The study observed associations over time and did not assign or test an intervention.