Exploring Growth in Expressive Communication of Infants and Toddlers With Autism Spectrum Disorder
Year: 2021
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: One of the earliest indicators of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is delay in language and social communication. Despite consensus on the benefits of earlier diagnosis and intervention, our understanding of the language growth of children with ASD during the first years of life remains limited. Therefore, this study compared communication growth patterns of infants and toddlers with ASD to growth benchmarks of a standardized language assessment. We conducted a retrospective analysis of growth on the Early Communication Indicator (ECI) of 23 infants and toddlers who received an ASD diagnosis in the future. At 42 months of age, children with ASD had significantly lower rates of gestures, single words, and multiple words, but significantly higher rates of nonword vocalizations. Children with ASD had significantly slower growth of single and multiple words, but their rate of vocalization growth was significantly greater than benchmark. Although more research is needed with larger samples, because the ECI was designed for practitioners to monitor children's response to intervention over time, these findings show promise for the ECI's use as a progress monitoring measure for young children with ASD. Limitations and the need for future research are discussed.
Source: Journal of Early Intervention
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G1667351576, Validation of an outcome measure of early social-communication for young children with ASD, The Effects of Online Decision Making Support for Home Visitors Using an RTI Approach to Promote the Language Development of At-risk Infants and Toddlers, Kansas Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (KIDDRC), G9000188727
OpenAlex ID: W3133727833