Caregiver-Child Joint Engagement and Child Vocabulary

Autistic children can sometimes be delayed in their language development, which has led researchers to try to understand the developmental mechanisms by which these children learn words. Research has shown that young autistic children learn new words when they jointly engage in play with their caregivers, and caregivers talk about how the children are playing. It is possible however that development can occur in the reverse direction- that is, learning new words may also increase the extent to which autistic children are able to jointly engage in play with their caregivers. It would be helpful for researchers and early interventionists to know which early milestone ‘drives’ development; joint engagement between children and caregivers, or children’s emerging language abilities.

We analyzed videos of caregivers and young autistic children that were previously collected by Dr. Paul Yoder (Vanderbilt University) and Dr. Linda Watson (UNC – Chapel Hill) as part of their work on the Useful Speech study. We coded these videos for caregiver-child joint engagement, and caregiver talk. We also used caregiver reports of children’s vocabulary. We coded videos from two time points that were eight months apart, and used a ‘cross-lagged panel design’ to determine whether caregiver-child joint engagement influences later child vocabulary, or if child vocabulary influences later caregiver-child joint engagement.

This study demonstrated that children who jointly engage in play with their caregivers have a larger vocabulary eight months later.  This is also true when caregivers talk about what children are focused on during joint engagement. However, a child’s early vocabulary did not influence the extent to which autistic children jointly engaged in play with their caregivers.

This study suggests that autistic children’s ability to jointly engage in play when interacting with their caregivers is influential on the number of words they learn to say. Therefore, this could be a good starting point for early intervention that is focused on helping autistic children learn to talk. 

Related Publications:

Bottema-Beutel, K., Woynaroski, T., Louick, R., Keefe, E.S., Watson, L.R., & Yoder, P.J. (in press). Longitudinal associations across vocabulary modalities in children with autism and typical development. Autism.

Bottema-Beutel, K., Lloyd, B., Watson, L., & Yoder, P.J. (2018) Bidirectional influences of caregiver utterances and supported joint engagement in children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Autism Research, 11, 755 – 765.

Bottema-Beutel, K., Malloy, C., Lloyd, B., Louick, R., Nelson, L.J., Watson, L. R., & Yoder, P.J. (2018). Sequential associations between caregiver talk and child play in autism spectrum disorder and typical development. Child Development, 89(3), e157-e166.

Bottema-Beutel, K. (2016). The relationship between joint attention and language in autism spectrum disorder and typical development: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis. Autism Research, 9(10), 1021-1035.

Bottema-Beutel, K., Yoder, P., Hochman, J.M., & Watson, L. (2014). The role of supported joint engagement and parent utterances in language and social communication development in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 2162-2174.