Predicting Expressive Language in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Background: Deficits in expressive language abilities is evident in many children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Expressive language is central for expressing needs, opinion and participate in social interactions, and has been linked to outcome in children with ASD. To be able to understand language development in ASD and to identify possible targets for intervention, research on early predictors is essential. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate early predictors for expressive language abilities in late childhood with a focus on initiation and response to joint attention, joint engagement, fine motor abilities, and nonverbal cognition. Aims: 1) To assess how well social communication and interaction, fine motor and nonverbal cognition collectively explains the variance in later expressive language, after controlling for initial expressive language. 2) To investigate which of the individual potential predictors have the strongest relationship with later expressive language. Method: The study involved a sample of 89 children with ASD from Norway and US. In a descriptive longitudinal design, a hierarchical regression was used to examine how early social communication and interaction, fine motor skills and nonverbal cognition predicted expressive language in late childhood. Results: Although all potential predictors were significantly correlated with the outcome variable, only early joint engagement and fine motor predicted expressive language at late childhood in the hierarchical regression. Fine motor had the strongest impact of the predictors. Collectively, the predictors accounted for 60% of the variance in subsequent expressive language. Early social communication and interaction, fine motor and nonverbal cognition accounted for 10,8% of the variance, when the variance of initial expressive language was accounted for. Conclusion: The results implied that the study had successfully identified several important aspects of expressive language development. Further, it highlights the importance of early joint engagement and fine motor for later expressive language outcome. The study’s longitudinal design, large sample size compared to similar studies, and the inclusion of a multitude of potential predictors provides an important contribution to the existing research on expressive language in children with ASD.