Shared attention and grammatical development in typical children and children with autism

The two studies presented here explore the relationship between children's pragmatic skills and their growth in grammar. In study 1, thirty normally developing children were videotaped interacting with their parents at 1;2 and again at 2;7. Using correlational and regression techniques, we found that pragmatic accomplishments of MUTUAL ATTENTION, as well as mother's conversational style, explained 45% of the variance in grammar at 2;7. The second study investigated pragmatic-grammatical relationships with data from 6 high-functioning children with autism. To control for individual variation in skill level at the start of the study, within-individual growth rates for grammar were estimated as our outcome. The results substantiated those of study 1, in that pragmatic accomplishments within mutual attention predicted the per month growth rate in grammar. We interpret these findings as consistent with the position that the infant's social-pragmatic skills contribute to the acquisition of grammar.