Sociodemographic Differences Impact the Perceived Importance of Social Communication and Interaction Behaviors.

The evaluation of social communication and interaction (SC/I) behaviors is foundational to the autism identification process. However, this type of evaluation is made difficult by the fact that SC/I is a construct in which perceptions and expectations are largely influenced by norms and attitudes of different sociodemographic groups. While there are many factors that influence differences in SC/I behaviors across sociodemographic groups, one factor that may be especially important is the perceived value of these behaviors.

Conversational Speech Behaviors Are Context Dependent.

Purpose: According to the interpersonal synergy model of spoken dialogue, interlocutors modify their communicative behaviors to meet the contextual demands of a given conversation. Although a growing body of research supports this postulation for linguistic behaviors (e.g.

Lexical Alignment is Pervasive Across Contexts in Non-WEIRD Adult-Child Interactions.

Lexical alignment, a communication phenomenon where conversational partners adapt their word choices to become more similar, plays an important role in the development of language and social communication skills. While this has been studied extensively in the conversations of preschool-aged children and their parents in Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) communities, research in other pediatric populations is sparse. This study makes significant expansions on the existing literature by focusing on alignment in naturalistic conversations of school-aged children from a non-WEIRD population across multiple conversational tasks and with different types of adult partners.

Perceptual Learning of Dysarthria in Adolescence.

Purpose: As evidenced by perceptual learning studies involving adult listeners and speakers with dysarthria, adaptation to dysarthric speech is driven by signal predictability (speaker property) and a flexible speech perception system (listener property). Here, we extend adaptation investigations to adolescent populations and examine whether adult and adolescent listeners can learn to better understand an adolescent speaker with dysarthria.

Method: Classified by developmental stage, adult ( = 42) and adolescent ( = 40) listeners completed a three-phase perceptual learning protocol (pretest, familiarization, and posttest).

Classifying Conversational Entrainment of Speech Behavior: An Expanded Framework and Review.

Conversational entrainment, also known as alignment, accommodation, convergence, and coordination, is broadly defined as of communicative behavior between interlocutors. Within current literature, specific terminology, definitions, and measurement approaches are wide-ranging and highly variable. As new ways of measuring and quantifying entrainment are developed and research in this area continues to expand, consistent terminology and a means of organizing entrainment research is critical, affording cohesion and assimilation of knowledge.

Speech Entrainment in Adolescent Conversations: A Developmental Perspective.

Purpose: Defined as the similarity of speech behaviors between interlocutors, speech entrainment plays an important role in successful adult conversations. According to theoretical models of entrainment and research on motoric, cognitive, and social developmental milestones, the ability to entrain should develop throughout adolescence. However, little is known about the specific developmental trajectory or the role of speech entrainment in conversational outcomes of this age group.

Caregiver Perceptions of Social Communication and Interaction: Development and Validation of the SCIPS.

Social communication and interaction (SC/I) skill quality may be influenced by cultural values, norms, and expectations. Because difficulties in SC/I is a core criterion for identifying autism and is a frequent construct of interest in autism research, a measure designed to capture cross-cultural differences in the perspectives of SC/I skills is warranted. To address this need we developed and validated the Social Communication and Interaction Perceptions Scale (SCIPS), a caregiver report measure for children ages 6-18 years, that measures both frequency and perceived importance of various SC/I skills.

Rhythm Perception, Speaking Rate Entrainment, and Conversational Quality: A Mediated Model.

Purpose: Acoustic-prosodic entrainment, defined as the tendency for individuals to modify their speech behaviors to more closely align with the behaviors of their conversation partner, plays an important role in successful interaction. From a mechanistic perspective, acoustic-prosodic entrainment is, by its very nature, a rhythmic activity. Accordingly, it is highly plausible that an individual's rhythm perception abilities play a role in their ability to successfully entrain.

An Examination of Articulatory Precision in Autistic Children and Adults.

Purpose: According to the speech attunement framework, autistic individuals lack the ability and/or motivation to "tune up" their speech to the same level of precision as their neurotypical peers. However, previous studies exploring the articulatory patterns of autistic individuals have yielded disparate findings. One reason contrasting conclusions exist may be because studies have relied on perceptual measures of articulation.

From Speech Acoustics to Communicative Participation in Dysarthria: Toward a Causal Framework.

Purpose: We proposed and tested a causal instantiation of the World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, linking acoustics, intelligibility, and communicative participation in the context of dysarthria.

Method: Speech samples and communicative participation scores were collected from individuals with dysarthria ( = 32). Speech was analyzed for two acoustic metrics (i.

Conversational Coordination of Articulation Responds to Context: A Clinical Test Case With Traumatic Brain Injury.

Purpose Coordination of communicative behavior supports shared understanding in conversation. The current study brings together analysis of two speech coordination strategies, entrainment and compensation of articulation, in a preliminary investigation into whether strategy organization is shaped by a challenging communicative context-conversing with a person who has a communication disorder. Method As an initial clinical test case, an automated measure of articulatory precision was analyzed in a corpus of spoken dialogue, where a confederate conversed with participants with traumatic brain injury ( = 28) and participants with no brain injury ( = 48).

Methodology Matters: The Impact of Research Design on Conversational Entrainment Outcomes.

Purpose Conversational entrainment describes the tendency for individuals to alter their communicative behaviors to more closely align with those of their conversation partner. This communication phenomenon has been widely studied, and thus, the methodologies used to examine it are diverse. Here, we summarize key differences in research design and present a test case to examine the effect of methodology on entrainment outcomes.

Going With the Flow: An Examination of Entrainment in Typically Developing Children.

Purpose Conversational entrainment is the tendency for individuals to modify their behavior to more closely converge with the behavior of their communication partner and is an important aspect of successful interaction. Evidence of entrainment in adults is robust, yet research regarding its development in children is sparse. Here, we investigate the emergence of entrainment skills in typically developing children.

Speech Rate Entrainment in Children and Adults With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose: Conversational entrainment, a phenomenon whereby people modify their behaviors to match their communication partner, has been evidenced as critical to successful conversation. It is plausible that deficits in entrainment contribute to the conversational breakdowns and social difficulties exhibited by people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examined speech rate entrainment in children and adult populations with and without ASD.