LI+TLE Lab

We are recruiting for a student thesis study!

Currently, we are recruiting parents who have a child that received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or
other related conditions (e.g., autism, PDD-NOS, Asperger’s syndrome) at any point in time for a study about their early
intervention experiences!

What is the study about?
Prior research demonstrates that early intervention is critical for children with Autism and other related conditions (e.g.,
autism, PDD-NOS, Asperger's syndrome) to develop communication and language skills. However, little is known about the specific features of early intervention therapy that bring satisfaction to families. This research aims to help us
understand and examine various features of early intervention that are associated with family well-being (e.g., parental
stress, satisfaction, and acceptance of their child’s diagnosis).

Who is eligible?
We are looking for parents of children who…
- have received early intervention services within the past 15 years, including but not limited to having participated in
Emerson College’s Group Language Therapy Program in The Robbins Center
- have received a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder or other related conditions (e.g., autism, PDD-NOS, Asperger's
syndrome) at any point in time

What will I do?
The study requires parents’ completion of an online survey written in English which should last no longer than 30 minutes.
You will be asked to answer questions about your child’s social communication, diagnosis, type of early intervention
services received (individual home therapy, group therapy, etc.) as well as quality and frequency of services received. You
will answer both open-ended and closed-ended questions about your family well-being, including satisfaction with your
child’s early intervention services, your own stress levels as parents, and your acceptance of your child’s diagnosis.
Additionally, you may opt-in to participate in a 30 minute follow-up Zoom interview after completion of the survey, in which
questions will focus on family-well being related to your survey responses and allow for story-telling about experiences
with early intervention. As a token of our appreciation for your participation, you will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card for
the survey and a $15 Amazon Gift Card for the follow-up interview.

If you are interested in participating, please email [email protected] for the password to the survey link below: https://emersoncmc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2t3H2uriTcYF8CG

Thank you for your interest in our work—we hope to hear from you soon!

Qualtrics Survey | Examining Early Intervention This survey is to better understand and examine various features of early intervention that are associated with family well-being (e.g., parental stress, satisfaction, and acceptance of their child’s diagnosis).

Publication alert! LI+TLE Lab co-directors Rhiannon Luyster and Lisa Wisman Weil, along with collaborator Emily Zane (at JMU), just published a new paper looking at "unconventional language" in autism. You can find it OPEN ACCESS here!

journals.sagepub.com

We could not be prouder of LI+TLE Lab alum Kimberly Lin, whose paper (with Lisa Wisman Weil and Rhiannon Luyster) was just published! Read about how the imageability of words is associated with child vocabulary for children on the spectrum...the article is open access! Congrats, Kim!

Word imageability is associated with expressive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorder - Kimberly R Lin, Lisa Wisman Weil, Audrey Thurm, Catherine Lord, Rhiannon J Luyster, 2022 Background & aims Throughout typical development, children prioritize different perceptual, social, and linguistic cues to learn words. The earliest acquired wo...

Check out Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences' Duke Center for Autism Speaker Series next Wednesday, February 2, 2022 - 4:00pm to 5:00pm EST to hear Sudha Arunachalam, PhD and Rhiannon Luyster, PhD present on Learning Words from Overheard Language in Autistic Children.

Register here: https://autismcenter.duke.edu/speaker-series

https://psychiatry.duke.edu/events/learning-words-overheard-language-autistic-children

Learning Words from Overheard Language in Autistic Children | Duke Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences Please join us for the next presentation in our 2021-2022 Duke Center for Autism Speaker Series! Our speakers will be Sudha Arunachalam, PhD, associate professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at New York University, and Rhiannon Luyster, PhD, associate professor of Communication Sciences &...

Loved our shoutout in Emerson news! Nice work, Kaya LeGrand!!

Master Thesis Project Fills Gap in Autism Research - Emerson Today As a graduate student in Communication Sciences & Disorders, Kaya LeGrand MS '20 spearheaded a research project to help answer one of many questions surrounding Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Which features of autistic children's language are most useful for their adult language ability??

Publication alert! With Drs. Emily Zane (JMU) and Sudha Arunachalam (NYU), Lab director Rhiannon Luyster just published a paper called "Personal pronoun errors in form versus meaning produced by children with and without autism spectrum disorder" in the Journal of Cultural Cognitive Science. Our findings suggest that these errors reflect challenges with pronoun meaning.

Personal pronoun errors in form versus meaning produced by children with and without autism spectrum disorder

Publication alert! A new paper out with our good friends at LEARN Lab, exploring caregiver reporting of vocabulary. We found that parents may have a hard time accurately reporting their child's mastery of verbs...Check it out!

Consistency and Inconsistency in Caregiver Reporting of Vocabulary (2021). Consistency and Inconsistency in Caregiver Reporting of Vocabulary. Language Learning and Development. Ahead of Print.

Hooray Rachel! This is such a terrific accomplishment, and we know it's just the beginning -- look out world, here she comes!

How do children learn language when they are not directly spoken to?

Dr. Sudha Arunachalam of the LEARN Lab at New York University and Dr. Rhiannon Luyster of the LI+TLE Lab at Emerson College are collaborating through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funded study to examine how children acquire new words.

We hope our research will contribute to new teaching methods for language that make fewer social demands of learners and improve the way language is taught to all children.

Learn more about our study here: https://word.emerson.edu/kids/

Sign up to participate here: https://redcap.link/kidscsdresearch

We are so proud of LI+TLE Lab alum Kaya LeGrand, who just had her paper accepted at the prestigious Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research! Her work highlights the importance of early verb mastery in predicting language outcomes in ASD. Congratulations, Kaya! We are so proud of you.

LI+TLE Lab had a fun party today...reminds us to appreciate the simple pleasure of shared laughter and seeing old friends (looking at you, Sophie, Kayley Fung, and Kim)! Thankful for all our lab members, past and present. Happy Holidays, everyone!