Early trajectories and moderators of autistic language profiles: A longitudinal study in preschoolers.
Kenza Latrèche, Michel Godel, Martina Franchini and 3 others
PMID 38770974WHAT IT FOUND
By 4.4 years, autistic preschoolers formed three distinct language groups: minimally verbal, language impaired, and language unimpaired.
Early delay was common; language impaired children had higher verbal scores when they also had two-year ESDM.
Key findings
01At 4.4 years, 20.5% of autistic preschoolers were minimally verbal, 40.0% were language impaired, and 40.0% were language unimpaired.
02Two-word combination milestones differed by group: about 50% of language unimpaired children had them by age 2, about 50% of language impaired children by age 3, and about 25% of minimally verbal children by age 5.
03ESDM was more common among language unimpaired children (54.7%) than minimally verbal children (31.8%), and within the language impaired group it was associated with higher verbal outcome (p < 0.001).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This was an observational cohort, not a randomized trial, so ESDM associations may reflect selection differences rather than treatment effects. The minimally verbal group was the smallest, so null findings in that group have a higher chance of false negatives. Parent-reported DLPF data may be noisier for children with very low verbal abilities and mainly capture expressive language, so receptive gaps may be missed. The sample was French-speaking and preschool-aged, and some children may change profiles later in childhood. Language scores were summarized by developmental quotients, and the study did not use direct deep language phenotyping such as speech sampling or neuroimaging. The ESDM group included children receiving 15 to 20 hours per week for 2 years, but the paper did not randomize intervention.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was funded by Swiss research and hospital/autism foundations, and the funders had no role beyond providing financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that ESDM caused the language profile or the higher verbal scores. The study was observational, and children who received ESDM were not randomly assigned, so differences between groups may reflect selection factors.