The next UMARC talk will be held Tuesday, March 3, from 12:30–1:30 p.m., featuring Rachel Reetzke, Assistant Professor and licensed SLP at the Center for Autism Services, Science, and Innovation at the Kennedy Krieger Institute. We encourage you to attend in person if you’re able, and please share the announcement widely. All are welcome.
Abstract
Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Capturing the Complexity of Language Development and Outcomes in Autism
Language delay is one of the earliest concerns reported by parents of autistic children around their child’s second birthday. While some autistic children with initial language delays catch up to peers in spoken language, others develop spoken language but demonstrate structural language impairments (e.g., speech sound errors and verb tense difficulties). Approximately 30% of autistic children use few or no words to communicate, despite years of early intervention. Because early spoken language is a strong predictor of long-term academic, social, and quality of life outcomes, there is an urgent need to better understand the abilities and disabilities associated with these different language outcomes to inform the development of individualized, strengths-based intervention approaches. This talk will present behavioral, EEG, and AI-driven methods focused on better understanding the complexity of spoken language development in infants at an elevated risk of developing autism to minimally speaking, autistic adolescents. Implications for individualized assessment and intervention approaches will be discussed.
Zoom Information
On Zoom (registration required): https://go.umd.edu/umarc-talk-
