Brief report: are children with autism proficient word learners?
Kids with autism can learn and say new words quickly when you give clear adult models and ask them to repeat.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Smith et al. (2010) asked if kids with autism can really learn new words. They compared word learning in children with autism to children with moderate learning problems. The team used an ostensive setup: an adult said and showed a new toy name, then asked the child to say it.
Each child saw the new word only a few times. The key test was production: could the child say the new word when the toy appeared?
What they found
Children with autism said the new words more often than the other group. Their word production scores were higher, even though both groups had similar IQ scores.
The study shows that, when given clear adult cues, kids with autism can add new words to their spoken vocabulary quickly.
How this fits with other research
Michael (1988) seems to disagree. That older study found that high-functioning autistic kids listed fewer words in an open fluency task. The gap closes when you look at the task: J used free recall, while E used brief, adult-led teaching. Structured cues help; open-ended demands hurt.
Flapper et al. (2013) extends the story. They tracked receptive vocabulary growth and found it lags behind expressive growth in boys with autism. E’s positive production result lines up with the expressive side, reminding us to check both channels.
Chuah et al. (2025) adds a cross-linguistic angle. Mandarin-speaking preschoolers with autism used fewer different words in free play, yet E’s English sample could repeat taught words. Together, the papers say: autistic children can learn new words when explicitly shown, but spontaneous variety may still be low.
Why it matters
Do not assume limited word learning in autism. Use short, clear ostensive trials: show, label, prompt the child to say. Track what the child actually says, not just what they point to. If expressive vocabulary looks weak in free play, switch to brief adult-led teaching before writing goals.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Many approaches to word learning argue for the importance of joint attention and other social-pragmatic abilities. This study explored word learning in children with autism (CWA), by examining it in ostensive and non-ostensive contexts, tested through both comprehension and elicited production. Novel nouns were taught to 17 CWA and 13 children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) using an adapted version of Tomasello and Barton's (Developmental Psychology, 30: 639-650, 1994) search paradigm. In elicited production for words learnt within an ostensive context, CWA performed at a significantly higher level than MLD children. This is contrary to prior findings and suggests that word learning abilities in CWA have been underestimated.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2010 · doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0847-8