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Assessing Spoken Language Outcomes in Children with ASD: a Systematic Review

  • Autism Spectrum (A Richdale, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Comprehensive early intervention programs based on the principles of applied behaviour analysis can promote social communication development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is not clear to what extent these positive results represent progress towards helping children achieve the ultimate goal of spontaneous, flexible, directed and effective spoken language for a range of purposes across all life contexts. The aim of this systematic review was to document the intervention targets and assessment tools used to measure spoken language outcomes for children with ASD receiving comprehensive intervention programs. A total of 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. Although social communication functioning was the most frequently targeted aspect of development, assessment of these skills relied predominantly on the use of standardised assessments. No studies included sampling and analysis of the children’s spoken language in daily activities. The lack of comprehensive measures with high ecological validity limits our ability to draw conclusions regarding spoken language outcomes from the studies to date.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia

    David Trembath

  2. Griffith Institute of Education Research, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia

    Marleen Westerveld

  3. School of Allied Health Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia

    Leanne Shellshear

Authors
  1. David Trembath
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  2. Marleen Westerveld
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  3. Leanne Shellshear
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Correspondence to David Trembath.

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Conflict of Interest

David Trembath reports grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1071881), during the conduct of the study.

Marleen Westerveld and Leanne Shellshear declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Autism Spectrum

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Trembath, D., Westerveld, M. & Shellshear, L. Assessing Spoken Language Outcomes in Children with ASD: a Systematic Review. Curr Dev Disord Rep 3, 33–45 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-016-0068-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40474-016-0068-8

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