Journal Article

Measuring and Supporting Language Function for Children with Autism: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial of a Social-Interaction-Based Therapy

McGill, Fay, Shanker, Stuart G., Casenhiser, Devin M., Morderer, Olga, Binns, Amanda

2015

Overview

In a report of the effectiveness of MEHRIT, a social-interaction-based intervention for autism, Casenhiser et al. (Autism 17(2):220–241, 2013 ) failed to find a significant advantage for language development in the treatment group using standardized language assessments. We present the results from a re-analysis of their results to illustrate the importance of measuring communicative language acts (formally called “speech acts”). Reanalysis confirmed that children in the MEHRIT group outperformed the community treatment group on measures of MLUm, number of utterances produced, and various speech act categories. The study underscores the importance of functional language measures in guiding and evaluating treatment for children with autism, and suggests that MEHRIT is effective in improving children’s use of language during parent–child interactions.

• Publisher: Springer US,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Autism / Autistic children / Autistic Disorder - rehabilitation / Behavioral Science and Psychology / Child and School Psychology / Child, Preschool / Children / Clinical trials / Comparative Analysis / Female / Humans / Interaction / Interpersonal Competence / Interpersonal Relations / Intervention / Language / Language Acquisition / Language assessment / Language Development / Language Skills / Language Tests / Language Therapy - methods / Language Usage / Male / Measurement Techniques / Neurosciences / Original Paper / Outcomes of Treatment / Parent-Child Relations / Pediatrics / Program Effectiveness / Psychology / Public Health / Social Development / Speech / Speech Acts / Speech Skills / Speech Therapy - methods / Utterances