title: Children With Autism Show Reduced Information Seeking When Learning New Tasks.
abstract: Information-seeking behaviours occur when children look to adults in order to gain further information about a novel stimulus/situation. The current study investigated information seeking in children with developmental delays (DD) and those with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) during a simulated teaching situation. Twenty preschool-aged children with ASD and 15 children with DD were exposed to a series of videos where a teacher provided novel instructions and demonstrated novel actions. We found that children with DD, but not those with ASD, demonstrated information-seeking behaviours in response to instructions that exceeded their level of understanding. This suggests that children with DD may use information-seeking behaviours to compensate for their cognitive and language difficulties when novel actions are being taught, while the same is not true for children with ASD.
authors.affiliation: Nicole Young and Kristelle Hudry, Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia;
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Young
authors.affiliation: Nicole Young and Kristelle Hudry, Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia;
authors.forename: Kristelle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hudry
authors.affiliation: David Trembath, Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; and.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trembath
authors.affiliation: Giacomo Vivanti, Olga Tennison Autism Research Centre and Victorian Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vivanti
mesh_terms: D000067877:Autism Spectrum Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male
keywords: autism spectrum disorder; comprehension; developmental delay; information seeking; learning; social referencing