Language outcomes for preverbal toddlers with symptoms of autism: A follow-up study

The current research investigated language outcomes of children with symptoms of autism. Parents and professionals often wonder about outcomes of children who have language delays. Research on late talking toddlers who do not have autism indicates the majority of late talkers will perform within normal limits on comprehensive language measures by the time they reach school age, and toddlers with higher receptive language skills will have better language outcomes. There is little research on school-age outcomes for toddlers who are late to begin talking and have symptoms of autism. The present research investigated 75 children between 2 and 3 years of age who presented with language delays and symptoms of autism. Four studies were conducted. Study 1 determined the percentage of these children who, upon follow-up, use verbal language to communicate. Results indicated the majority (81%) of children use verbal language by the time they reach school age. Study 2 included a subset of 40 children from Study 1 who use verbal language according to parent report. Follow-up language and cognitive assessments were conducted, and children's scores were compared to their receptive and expressive language scores between ages 2 and 3. Results revealed that children with better language scores between the ages of 2 and 3 demonstrated better language scores upon follow-up. Studies 3 and 4 examined performance on two phonological awareness tasks: Nonword Repetition and Phoneme Reversal. Study 3 attempted to support and extend prior research suggesting children with autism perform similarly to children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) on a task of nonword repetition. As predicted, most individuals with autism had difficulty repeating nonsense words, further suggesting these individuals can have language deficits in the form as well as function of language. Study 4 attempted to provide evidence that individuals with autism are able to use a piecemeal linguistic processing style on the Phoneme Reversal task regardless of their language level. Performance on the Phoneme Reversal task demonstrated that individuals who have autism use a local cognitive-linguistic style regardless of language ability. These findings add to our knowledge of the nature of language performance in children with autism.