Shared attention and grammatical development in typical children and children with autism

The two studies presented here explore the relationship between children's pragmatic skills and their growth in grammar. In study I, thirty normally d eveloping children were videotaped interacting with their parents at I;2 an d again at 2;7. Using correlational and regression techniques, we found tha t pragmatic accomplishments of MUTUAL ATTENTION, as well as mother's conver sational style, explained 45 % of the variance in grammar at 2;7. The secon d study investigated pragmatic-grammatical relationships with data from 6 h igh-functioning children with autism. To control for individual variation i n skill level at the start of the study, within-individual growth rates for grammar were estimated as our outcome. The results substantiated those of study I, in that pragmatic accomplishments within mutual attention predicte d the per month growth rate in grammar. We interpret these findings as cons istent with the position that the infant's social-pragmatic skills contribu te to the acquisition of grammar.