Using a Developmental Framework to Evaluate Expressive Language Abilities in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

Background: The identification of common measures of expressive language is needed to evaluate the efficacy of interventions targeting language in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Tager-Flusberg et al. (2009) recently proposed the use of a developmental framework to describe children’s expressive language abilities. Moreover, they proposed that researchers move away from using the traditional “functional speech” framework for evaluating language acquisition.

Objectives: The aim of this studyis to test the use of Tager-Flusberg et al.’s developmental framework of expressive languagein a group of children with ASD, children with developmental delays (DD), and typically developing children. Methods: The present study utilizes previously collected data gathered as part of three longitudinal investigations. Ninety children were assessed at multiple time points between 12 and 72 months of age. Expressive language development was measured with Tager-Flusberg et al.’s  developmental framework by using data collected through the following standardized measures: MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (Fenson et al., 1993), ADOS (Lord et al., 2000), ADI-R (Lord et al., 1994), and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (2005).  Expressive language trajectories of children with ASD will be compared with children with DD as well as typically developing children.

Results: Results of the data analysis described above will be presented.

Conclusions: Benefits of using a developmental framework to evaluate expressive language abilities of children with ASD will be presented. The implementation of this framework to measure changes in language acquisition studies will be discussed.