Prelinguistic communication complexity predicts expressive language in initial minimally verbal autistic children

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS: Our findings suggest that it may be beneficial to incorporate different complex communication behaviours into prelinguistic intervention targets for minimally verbal autistic children. The CCS hierarchies can be used as a reference for the intervention goals of minimally verbal autistic children. These findings highlight the importance of targeting gesture and vocalisation combinations when autistic children transition from single prelinguistic communication behaviours to multimodal behaviours.WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS: What is already known on this subject Children use eye gaze, gestures and vocalisations to communicate with others before they learn spoken language. There is strong evidence suggest that the frequency of prelinguistic communication predicts later linguistic achievements in autistic children. However, less is known about whether prelinguistic communication complexity also predicts later language and which specific behaviours are most predictive of language outcomes. What this study adds Minimally verbal autistic children who exhibit more complex prelinguistic communication behaviours have better expressive language 12 months later. Gestures combined with vocalisations predict better expressive language in minimally verbal autistic children. What are the clinical implications of this work? When identifying intervention targets for minimally verbal autistic children, the clinicians may reference the prelinguistic communication behaviours f...
Source: International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Source Type: research