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. 2018 May;89(3):e157-e166.
doi: 10.1111/cdev.12848. Epub 2017 May 26.

Sequential Associations Between Caregiver Talk and Child Play in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

Kristen Bottema-Beutel  1 , Caitlin Malloy  1 , Blair P Lloyd  2 , Rebecca Louick  1 , Linnea Joffe-Nelson  3 , Linda R Watson  4 , Paul J Yoder  2
Affiliations

Sequential Associations Between Caregiver Talk and Child Play in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

Kristen Bottema-Beutel et al. Child Dev. 2018 May.

Abstract

This study examined sequential associations between child play and caregiver talk in 98 caregiver-child dyads (Mmental age = 14 months). Fifty dyads included a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Analyses revealed sequential associations between child play and caregiver follow-in (FI) utterances (utterances related to the child's attentional focus) were stronger in the ASD as compared to the typically developing (TD) group. FI utterances were more likely to elicit functional play than caregiver-focused utterances, and more so in the ASD group. Across groups, FI directives were more likely to elicit functional play than FI comments. These findings have important implications for research involving caregiver-child play as an early intervention context for children with ASD.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Marginal mean risk difference for exploratory play → caregiver follow-in and functional play → caregiver follow-in. Error bars are 95% CIs. Asterisks indicate significant difference from zero; **p < .01, ***p < .001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Marginal mean risk difference for caregiver-focused → functional play and caregiver follow-in → functional play. Error bars are 95% CIs, and asterisks indicate significant difference from zero; *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Marginal mean risk difference for caregiver follow-in comments → functional play and caregiver follow-in directives → functional play. Error bars are 95% CIs, and asterisks indicate significant difference from zero; *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. FI = Follow-in.
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