Research Finds that ‘Baby Talk’ Could be Key in Spotting Autism

‘Baby talk’ is a universal language, in any language. We use a sing-song, melodic way of talking as a way to encourage baby bonding and to stimulate engagement.

Most of us do it spontaneously when speaking to babies and small children; using words such as ‘doggie’ or ‘woof-woof’ for dog, ‘broom-broom’ for car, and often using a raised tone of voice.

Now, researchers at the University of California in San Diego believe that when a baby doesn’t engage with ‘baby talk’ it could be an early sign of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Senior author of the study Eric Courchesne, who is a professor of neuroscience and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence at UCSD, said that the research “opens the door toward precision medicine in autism”.

State-of-the-art brain imaging

The researchers hypothesised that babies and young children with ASD suffer from impaired development of essential mechanisms which are stimulated by baby talk. They conducted a series of specially developed tests involving a cohort of 71 toddlers and 14 adults to test their theories.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), eye tracking, and clinical testing the researchers were able to identify the specific areas of the brain that react to baby talk.

In the past, studies have shown that infants with ASD do not take part as much in social activities that would engage children with typical brain development, and the UCSD research found that infants with the poorest neural responses to baby talk possessed the poorest outcomes in respect of language, social symptoms, and behavioural preferences.

The superior temporal cortex is the area that processes sound and language and it was found that, in children with ASD, this area responded weakly to baby talk and emotion-speech. Those infants with the strongest responses to baby talk were those with typical brain development.

Professor Courchesne said, “For the first time, we are seeing what the possible brain impact is for children with autism who fail to pay attention to social information.”

Hoping for good outcomes

Interestingly, eye-tracking revealed that some toddlers with ASD exhibited strong brain activity and interest when hearing baby talk.

Professor Karen Pierce, co-author and co-director of the Autism Center of Excellence, said that these observations were encouraging. She said they suggest that some toddlers with autism are likely to have good childhood development outcomes and also point the way to innovative areas for treatment, such as diagnostic tools and biomarkers to assist with early identification of ASD.

Further reading:

• Overview of Social Development
• Overview of Language Development
• Playing Music to your Baby and Child