Longitudinal study of symptom severity and language in minimally verbal children with autism.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A significant minority of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are considered 'minimally verbal' due to language development stagnating at a few words. Recent developments allow for the severity of ASD symptoms to be examined using Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) Social Affect (SA) and Restricted and Repetitive Behaviors (RRB) domain severity scores. The aim of the current study was to explore language outcomes in a cohort of minimally verbal children with autism evaluated through the preschool years and determine if and how ASD symptom severity in core domains predicts the development of spoken language by age 5.

Methods

The sample consisted of 70 children with autism aged 1-5 years at the first evaluation who were examined at least 1 year l

SUBMITTER: Thurm A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4581593 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature