Abstract
A longitudinal correlational design was used to examine whether fast-mapping mediates the relationship between attention-following and vocabulary size in a group of 29 young children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Attention-following was measured at the initial visit. Fast-mapping as well as comprehension and production of noun vocabulary were measured six months later. Attention-following had a significant predictive association with fast-mapping and with both vocabulary outcomes. Fast-mapping had a significant concurrent association with vocabulary and met all the criteria for mediating the association between attention-following and the number of nouns children understood and said at the follow-up. These findings support the value of targeting attention-following to increase word learning for children with ASD.
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