"This current project discusses correlations between visual attention and word learning in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and children with typical development (TD). The study examined the role of visual disengagement, specifically the difficulty some children have with breaking visual attention to a fixed stimulus. Participants were 19 children with ASD (age 4-7) and 21 children with TD (age 2-7). Eye tracking was used to examine word learning and visual attention. Novel word learning and visual disengagement were significantly correlated in the children with ASD (r = -0.43, one-tailed p = 0.03) when considering the timeout trials but were not significantly correlated in the children with TD (r = -0.19, one-tailed p = 0.21). However, the correlation between novel word learning and visual disengagement in children with ASD was no longer significant after controlling for age. Results suggest that it is important to consider the role of attention in word learning for children with ASD."-Page ii.
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