Comparison between the socio-educational profiles of children with verbal and non-verbal Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Simone Aparecida Lopes-Herrera, Daniela Gisley de Sousa Costa, Thaís Rosa Dos Santos and 1 others
PMID 37820195WHAT IT FOUND
Children with verbal autism scored higher than those with non-verbal autism across all seven developmental areas, including imitation, perception, motor skills, and cognition.
Age differences between the groups likely influenced these results, so the gap may not be due to language alone.
Key findings
01Verbal children outperformed non-verbal children in imitation, perception, gross motor, fine motor, eye-hand coordination, general cognitive, and verbal cognitive areas.
02The groups differed significantly in chronological age, which prevented direct pairing and required statistical adjustment.
03Authors state that age differences may have contributed to the score gaps, blurring conclusions about the impact of verbal status on motor skills.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The verbal and non-verbal groups were not matched for age, and the verbal group was significantly older, which likely contributed to higher scores. The sample size was small (30 children). Definitions of verbal and non-verbal ASD vary in the literature, and this study used specific criteria based on parental reports and videos. The authors state they cannot conclude that being verbal or non-verbal directly influenced fine motor skills due to the age mismatch.
Declared interests
Funding was provided by FAPESP (process number 02327-0/2020). No other conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that verbal children have inherently better motor or perceptual skills than non-verbal children. The verbal group was significantly older, and the authors state this age difference may have driven the higher scores, meaning the gap might not be due to language status.