Dr. Venker’s research program focuses on language development in children with autism spectrum disorder, with an emphasis on how these children integrate auditory and visual information to learn the meanings of words.
Language Development
Seminar – Lizbeth Finestack, PhD – Topic: Identifying Effective And Efficient Language Interventions For Children With Significant Language Impairments
Dr. Finestack’s research focuses on identifying effective and efficient language interventions for children with significant language impairments.
Seminar – Viridiana Benitez, PhD – Topic: Understanding How Cognition and Language Experience Support Word Learning Across Development
Dr. Benitez’s research is in the area of cognitive development, with a focus on understanding how cognition and language experience support word learning across development.
The Little Listeners Project: studying language development in toddlers with autism
Even through cute but unintelligible babbles, infants are hard at work learning how to become successful communicators.
Susan Ellis Weismer, PhD – Slide of the Week
The present study used an eye-gaze task to evaluate predictive language processing among 3- to 4-year-old autistic children (n = 34) and 1.5- to 3-year-old, language-matched neurotypical (NT) children (n = 34).
Jenny Saffran, PhD – Slide of the Week
How do learners gather new information during word learning? One possibility is that learners selectively sample items that help them reduce uncertainty about new word meanings.
Expecting to learn: Language acquisition in toddlers improved by predictable situations
In an upcoming study in Current Biology, published online Aug. 16, researchers at the Arizona State University Department of Psychology and the Waisman Center report a factor that is important for language learning in children: the predictability of the learning environment.
Jenny Saffran, PhD – Slide of the Week
Children use the presence of familiar objects with known names to identify the correct referents of novel words. In natural environments, objects vary widely in salience. The presence of familiar objects may sometimes hinder rather than help word learning.
Here is how a cat can hinder children learning new words
Say you are shown an apple, a banana and a fruit you have never seen before. Then you are asked to pick the “pifo.” Which fruit would you choose? Chances are you would select the novel fruit.
Jenny Saffran, PhD
Language is used to identify objects in many different ways. For example, an apple can be identified using its name, color, and other attributes. Skilled language comprehension requires listeners to flexibly shift between different dimensions.