Link to the University of Pittsburgh Homepage
Link to the University Library System Homepage Link to the Contact Us Form

Look at Mommy: Attention-Related Communication in Mothers of Children at Risk for Autism

Jakubowski, Karen Patricia (2011) Look at Mommy: Attention-Related Communication in Mothers of Children at Risk for Autism. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

[img]
Preview
PDF
Primary Text

Download (807kB) | Preview

Abstract

Attentional difficulties are evident in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; Landry & Bryson, 2004). Subtle atypicalities in attention are also apparent among later-born siblings of children with ASD (themselves at heightened biological risk for an ASD diagnosis; high-risk toddlers; HR), even those who are not eventually diagnosed with ASD (e.g., Merin et al., 2007). Mothers of children with ASD may modify child-directed communication to direct and maintain the child's attention (e.g., Adamson et al., 2001), and this pattern may generalize to communication with later-born HR infants. In light of this evidence, the present study explored patterns of child-directed communication in mothers of 18-month-old HR toddlers and mothers of same-age later-born toddlers with no family history of ASD (low-risk toddlers; LR), focusing particularly on the production of attention-related communication (i.e., communication focusing on capturing, directing, and maintaining children's attention and/or actions) and compared HR and LR toddlers' responses to maternal attention-related communication. Although both groups of mothers displayed relatively similar patterns of attention-related communication, mothers of HR toddlers produced significantly more utterances that involved attentionally salient words. Additionally, HR toddlers were less likely to respond to attention-related communication. In general, these findings suggest that having an older child with ASD may influence maternal behavior with later-born children, even when those children do not themselves necessarily manifest obvious ASD symptomatology. They also highlight the need for further research on dyadic interactions between mothers and HR infants.


Share

Citation/Export:
Social Networking:
Share |

Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Jakubowski, Karen Patriciakjakubowski7@gmail.com
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairIverson, Jana Mjiverson@pitt.eduJIVERSON
Committee MemberBrownell, Celiabrownell@pitt.eduBROWNELL
Committee MemberWozniak, Robert Hrwozniak@brynmawr.edu
Committee MemberCampbell, Susan Bsbcamp@pitt.eduSBCAMP
Date: 2 May 2011
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 18 April 2011
Approval Date: 2 May 2011
Submission Date: 19 April 2011
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Psychology
David C. Frederick Honors College
Degree: BPhil - Bachelor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Undergraduate Thesis
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: ASD; child-directed speech; attention-related communication; high-risk siblings
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04192011-095607/, etd-04192011-095607
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:39
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:41
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/7335

Metrics

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics


Actions (login required)

View Item View Item