Language, (Statistical) Learning and Social Cognition in Children and Adults with/out Autism Spectrum Disorders

Language, (Statistical) Learning and Social Cognition in Children and Adults with/out Autism Spectrum Disorders – MBCS Internships

Jeannette Schaeffer (professor of Linguistics, specializes in Language Acquisition and ASD) & Ileana Grama (PhD, specializes in Statistical Learning and Development) & Harriet Reynolds (PhD student with a project on the Acquisition of TOPIC in ASD and typically developing children)

Collabs: Tim Ziermans (Psychology) and Raquel Fernandez (ILLC)

Our project investigates language, learning and social cognition in adults and primary-school children with/out autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We set out to determine whether the unique language profile (vocabulary, syntax, pragmatics, possibly also prosody and narrative abilities) that children/adults with ASD have is explained by their (statistical) learning abilities and/or by their social cognitive

abilities (such as Social Responsiveness, Theory of Mind, etc.). We do this by administering a comprehensive test battery (online!) and comparing children and adults with ASD to typically developing children and to adults. The project has started and will continue until at least the end of the academic year.

We are looking for 3rd year BA students or r/MA students who are (preferably) fluent in Dutch and enjoy working with children, and who are specializing/interested in language disorders, autism and/or social cognition. Students will be trained in administering a variety of tests (standardized or experimental), will test children (and/or adults) online (using Zoom/ MS Teams), will help code and archive the data, will help analyze the data, liaise with the

participants/parents/schools, etc. This position is ideal for an internship and/or thesis (amount of EC is flexible). If you are interested please get in touch with me ([staat bij de werkgever]) ASAP.

Ileana Grama (Docent in the Linguistics Department at UvA)

To apply for this job email your details to [staat bij de werkgever]