Concurrent Social Communication Predictors of Expressive Language in Minimally Verbal Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Meredith Pecukonis, Daniela Plesa Skwerer, Brady Eggleston and 2 others
PMID 31187332WHAT IT FOUND
Imitation ability was the strongest predictor of expressive language in minimally verbal autistic children and adolescents.
Unlike in younger children, joint attention was not related to language. Diversity of play and non-verbal IQ were correlated with language but did not independently predict it.
Key findings
01Imitation accuracy was the only social communication variable that independently predicted expressive language when controlling for play and non-verbal IQ.
02Joint attention measures (initiation, behavioral requests, and response) showed no significant correlation with expressive language in this older, minimally verbal sample.
03Diversity of spontaneous play and non-verbal IQ were significantly correlated with expressive language, even when controlling for age.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot determine causality or the direction of influence between social communication variables and language. The sample size was small (N=37), which limits the power to detect subtle effects. Expressive language was measured by parent report rather than direct standardized testing, which can introduce bias. The joint attention measure (JAMES) was originally designed for infants and may not have been engaging enough for the older adolescents in the sample, potentially affecting the validity of those scores. The imitation measure did not distinguish between imitation deficits and motor planning/execution deficits.
Declared interests
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that targeting imitation will improve language outcomes. This study shows a correlation in a small group of older minimally verbal individuals, but it does not demonstrate that intervention on imitation causes language growth.