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. 2023 Jun;53(6):2232-2245.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-022-05511-4. Epub 2022 Mar 24.

Spoken Language Change in Children on the Autism Spectrum Receiving Community-Based Interventions

David Trembath  1 , Matt Stainer  2 , Teena Caithness  2 , Cheryl Dissanayake  3 , Valsamma Eapen  4 , Kathryn Fordyce  5 , Veronica Frewer  6 , Grace Frost  7 , Kristelle Hudry  3 , Teresa Iacono  3 , Nicole Mahler  2 , Anne Masi  4 , Jessica Paynter  2 , Katherine Pye  3 , Shannon Quan  2 , Leanne Shellshear  2 , Rebecca Sutherland  2   8 , Stephanie Sievers  2 , Abirami Thirumanickam  9 , Marleen F Westerveld  10 , Madonna Tucker  11
Affiliations

Spoken Language Change in Children on the Autism Spectrum Receiving Community-Based Interventions

David Trembath et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2023 Jun.

Erratum in

Abstract

We assessed the spoken language of 73 preschool aged children on the autism spectrum receiving community-based early intervention at two time points, approximately 7 months apart. Using the Spoken Language Benchmarks, there was a small non-significant change in the proportion of children transitioning from below, to at or above, Phase 3 (word combinations). Using binomial regression, a model comprising seven of nine clinician-proposed child-related predictors explained 64% of the variance. None of the predictors were individually significant, although a large effect size (OR = 16.71) was observed for children's baseline rate of communicative acts. The findings point to substantial unmet clinical need in children with minimal verbal language, but also the relevance of clinician-proposed predictors of their spoken language outcomes.

Keywords: Autism; Communication; Intervention; Language; Minimally verbal; Preschool.

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Conflict of interest statement

Marleen Westerveld reports a financial relationship with SALT Software LLC that publishes the SALT software used for coding communication samples in this study. The authors have no further relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Expected and actual phase levels for the 73 children using the spoken language benchmarks at two time points
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Changes in the proportion of children meeting criteria for Phase 3 of the spoken language benchmarks from Time 1 to time 2
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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