This thesis explored whether children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) learn the
names of artefacts when abstracting information from the objects themselves (Studies
One and Two: shape and function bias), a speaker (Study Three: gaze and pointing cues)
or the environment (Study Four: arrow and light cues). A final study assessed the relative
weighting of conflicting speaker and environmental cues (Study Five). Control groups of
typically developing (TD) children and children with other developmental disorders (DD)
were also included. In order to tease apart whether word learning is delayed or deviant in
ASD and if this extends to DD children, each study recruited participants with a wide
range of receptive language abilities. The participants were subdivided into ‘high verbal
mental age’ (VMA) and ‘low VMA’ categories. Children with ASD were found to be
delayed in some aspects of language acquisition; specifically in showing a shape bias and
learning words from eye gaze and pointing. They failed to learn words from one type of
associative cue (light), but learnt words from a directional arrow at the same age as their
TD peers. Furthermore, they showed a function bias at an earlier age than TD children.
Interestingly, the DD cohort also showed substantial word learning deficits. They were
delayed learning words from eye gaze and deviant learning words using functional
information and some types of social and associative cues. Overall, this research
contributes to our understanding of the pathways of language acquisition across typical
and atypical development.