Contingent Interaction Contributes to Noun Generalization in Preschool Mandarin-Exposed Autistic Children

Although numerous research has shown that joint attention plays a critical role in language development in autistic children, little is known about how it specifically influences the word learning process in this group. This study explored how both the quantity (frequency and duration) and quality (contingent interactions) of initiating joint attention (IJA) and responding to joint attention (RJA) during semistructured parent-child interactions contribute to noun generalization in Mandarin-exposed autistic children. Results revealed that children's IJA was positively associated with their ability to generalize nouns based on shape and expressive vocabulary, while caregivers' RJA was linked to autistic children's shape-based noun generalization. Additionally, child-initiated contingent interactions enhance shape-based noun generalization in autistic children. These findings highlight the importance of both the quantity and quality of joint attention, suggesting that while joint attention broadly facilitates word learning, the temporal coordination of caregiver responses may play an important role in helping autistic children generalize object labels by shape.