It Takes All Kinds (of Information) to Learn a Language: Investigating the Language Comprehension of Typical Children and Children With Autism

Abstract

What factors influence children’s understanding of language in both typical and atypical development? In this article, I summarize findings from the Longitudinal Study of Early Language (LSEL), which has been following the talk, understanding, and interactions of typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder. The LSEL has found not only group similarities in syntactic understanding and word-learning strategies but also within-group variability that correlates with other aspects of the children’s behavior. In particular, early linguistic knowledge and social abilities have both been shown to play independent roles in later talk and understanding. Thus, theoretical perspectives that highlight social compared with linguistic underpinnings to language development should be viewed as complementary rather than competing.