We examined direct and indirect paths involving receptive vocabulary and diversity of key consonants used in communication (DKCC) to improve understanding of why previously identified value-added predictors are associated with later expressive vocabulary for initially preverbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 87). Intentional…

Background: Siblings of children with autism (sibs-A) are at increased genetic risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and milder impairments. To elucidate diversity and contour of early developmental trajectories exhibited by sibs-A, regardless of diagnostic classification, latent class modeling was used. Methods: Sibs-A (N = 204) were assessed…

The heterogeneity found in autism and related disorders (i.e., "autism spectrum disorders") is widely acknowledged. Even within a specific disorder, such as Autistic Disorder, the range in abilities and clinical presentation is broad. The heterogeneity observed has prompted many researchers to propose subtypes beyond the commonly used DSM-IV-TR…

Individuals with autism exhibit significant impairments in prosody production, yet there is a paucity of research on prosody comprehension in this population. The current study adapted a psycholinguistic paradigm to examine whether individuals with autism are able to use prosody to resolve syntactically ambiguous sentences. Participants were 21…

Discusses the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to enhance comprehension and expression of people with autism. A theoretical model for AAC assessment and intervention is presented and illustrated with a case study of a 6-year-old boy with autism and severe expressive and receptive language impairments. (Author/DB)