# Vocabulary Acquisition in a Meaningful Context: Differentiating Learning Profiles for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $145,960

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
This research addresses word learning during storybook interactions in children with autism spectrum disorder
(ASD) and fragile X syndrome (FXS). These disorders overlap in social communication impairments, but are
associated with differences relevant to word learning: opposite strengths in the core components of language–
form and meaning–and distinct memory and attention skills. Yet, surprisingly little is known about why
vocabulary acquisition is altered in children with ASD and FXS. Without this information, the learning profiles
associated with ASD and FXS (i.e., acquisition patterns, cognitive processing skills) cannot be used to support
vocabulary development. The long-term goal of this research is to inform vocabulary interventions that meet
the specific learning needs of children with ASD and FXS. The overall objective is to drastically increase what
is known about word learning processes in children with ASD and FXS by determining how the lexical (form)
and semantic (meaning) factors that shape word learning in typical development operate in ASD and FXS.
Further, the learning context is a storybook narrative, which is drawn from promising evidence-based
vocabulary treatments for other populations. The central hypothesis is that children with ASD and FXS will
show opposite strengths in word learning accuracy for novel word characteristics that relate to form (ASD) and
meaning (FXS), with individual differences explained by memory and attention skills. The proposed research
extends a contemporary theory of word learning to ASD and FXS to explain how effects of word characteristics
on learning relate to cognitive processing and vocabulary outcomes, connecting input characteristics to
learning profiles in ASD and FXS. Aim 1 is to determine the impact of lexical and semantic features on word
learning in a narrative context across children with ASD, FXS, and nonverbal developmental-level matched
typically developing children. Immediately and 24 hours later, word learning accuracy will be assessed with an
eye-gaze measure of novel word processing and a traditional production and recognition probe. Aim 2 is to
identify how memory and attention explain variability in word learning performance and thereby, in vocabulary
size. The proposed research is innovative because it tests learning in a meaningful context (storybook
listening), assesses learning and retention over time (immediate and delayed), simultaneously varies two types
of cues that influence learning (form and meaning), and directly tests the role of memory and attention in word
learning. This work is significant because it will delineate (1) how features of input operate in lexical acquisition
processes in ASD and FXS, (2) why input characteristics matter for learning, and (3) how and when individual
characteristics–memory and attention–underlie those learning processes.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9988397
- **Project number:** 5R21DC017226-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Sara Teresa Kover
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $145,960
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9988397

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9988397, Vocabulary Acquisition in a Meaningful Context: Differentiating Learning Profiles for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Fragile X Syndrome (5R21DC017226-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9988397. Licensed CC0.

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