Prelinguistic Predictors of Language in Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Background: Previous researches have shown that early language ability is related to better long-term outcomes and adaptive function in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, most of children ASD appear delays and impairments in language development. It is an important issue to explore predictors of language in young children with ASD. A few prelinguistic were suggested that they could enhance development of language in children with ASD. However, there was no longitudinal research to investigate prelinguistic predictors of language in young children with ASD under 36-months-old.

Objectives: The purpose of the longitudinal study was to examine prelinguistic predictors of language in young children ASD less than 36 months. We also further investigated which variable was the unique contribution to language development in the ASD population. 

Methods: The participants were thirty six 29-months-old (range = 24-36 months) children with ASD, including 28 cases of typical autism and 8 cases of atypical autism. The prelinguistic skills were measured at 29 months old and language outcome were assessed at 29 months and 48 months. A T-STAT, modified form from the STAT (Stone, et al., 2000, 2004), was used to measure the prelinguistic skills, including initiating joint attention, responding joint attention, object imitation, manual imitation, and doll-directed play. Besides, the verbal abilities were assessed by Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL, Mullen, 1995). 

Results: Language at 29 months, all of receptive language, expressive language and overall language were concurrent correlated with object imitation and doll-directed play. The receptive language was marginal correlated with responding joint attention. Significant concurrent predictor of receptive language and overall language was object imitation. Language at 48 months, the expressive language is longitudinal related to object imitation, manual imitation, and doll-directed play. And, the receptive language was marginal correlated with object imitation and responding joint attention. In addition, the overall language was also marginal correlated with object imitation. Significant longitudinal predictor of expressive language was object imitation.

Conclusions: Results of this current longitudinal study demonstrated that object imitation skill was the stronger predictors for receptive language and overall language at 29 months and for expressive language at 48 month in young children with ASD. The current results replicated previous findings and supported that children with ASD acquire language rely on object imitation. Although the object imitation could enhance language development, it is not enough to learn appropriate language use. Overuse of imitation without initiating joint attention causes a lack of intentional reference. This is a reason why children with ASD show atypical features of language usage. The current findings have important implications for early intervention in children with ASD.