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Updated: Dec 11, 2025
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Testing Sensory and Multisensory Function in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Published on: April 22, 2015
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Autism Adversely Affects Auditory Joint Engagement During Parent-toddler Interactions
Lauren B Adamson1, Roger Bakeman1, Katharine Suma1
1Department of Psychology, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Summary
Toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show less engagement with speech sounds and sharing them with parents. This impacts their early social interactions and auditory experiences.
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Neurodevelopmental Disorders
- Auditory Processing
Background:
- Auditory joint engagement, the sharing of sounds during interactions, is crucial for early social development.
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by social communication deficits, but its impact on auditory engagement is less understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate early adverse effects of ASD on auditory joint engagement in toddlers.
- To compare the auditory engagement behaviors of toddlers with ASD to typically developing (TD) toddlers and those with other developmental disorders (DD).
Main Methods:
- Observed 141 toddlers (49 TD, 46 ASD, 46 DD; avg age 22.6 months) during parent-child play sessions.
- Assessed reactions to different sound types (speech, music, animal, mechanical) before and during parental scaffolding.
- Quantified alerting, orienting, spontaneous sharing, and engagement behaviors.
Main Results:
- Toddlers with ASD alerted and oriented less to speech sounds compared to TD and DD toddlers.
- No significant differences were found for other sound types.
- Toddlers with ASD were less likely to spontaneously share sounds or engage when parents attempted to scaffold joint engagement.
Conclusions:
- ASD significantly affects toddlers' ability to engage with and share auditory experiences.
- Difficulties in auditory joint engagement may impact social interaction and attention to environmental sounds.
- Further research should explore links between auditory engagement, multimodal engagement, sensory profiles, and language development in ASD.
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