Look Who’s Talking – What Children and Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder Attend to During Face-to-Face Conversation

"Look Who's Talking!" is a research project for children and adolescents aged 8-17. We are looking at what children pay attention to when listening to people speak in face-to-face conversation. We are particularly interested in observing the reactions of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders and their typically developing peers.

Participation in this study will involve one to two visits to our laboratory at the UMass Medical Shool Shriver Center in Waltham. In the first visit your child would complete a series of standardized assessments. Based on this information we will determine whether he or she meets the specific qualifications for the study. If so, we will then schedule a second visit to return and complete the research task.

When participants come to Shriver for the research task, they will watch and listen to videos and view pictures. They may be asked to answer questions using a computer keyboard. We may measure your child’s eye movements with a camera placed below the computer monitor. The videos are fun to watch and the children usually enjoy the task

All of our study participants receive gift cards to Amazon or Toys R Us and a small gift and are free to participate in as many studies as they qualify for. Children and their parents are invited to come to our laboratory at the Shriver Center in Waltham, which is reachable by public transportation and has ample free parking.

To learn more about participating in "Look Who's Talking" or for more information about other studies in our laboratory, please contact the Research Coordinator at (781) 642-0276, or email us at facelab@umassmed.edu

Download the Look Who's Talking Study Flyer pdficonsmall

Docket# H-13369

View below the video of principle investigator Dr. Ruth Grossman describing the research. Dr. Grossman is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at UMass Medical School and also holds an appointment as Assistant Professor at Emerson College.