Table 1.
Expressive language benchmarks for children with ASD.
| Lang. phase | Lang. domain | Measure(s) | Variables | Range in typical development |
Examples | Minimum criteria |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Words 12–18 months | Phonology | NLS | CV combinations | CV–CVC | Hi, Mommy | CV |
| NLS | Consonant inventory | 2–8 different consonants | m, b, y, n, w, d, p, h (Early 8) | 4 consonants | ||
| Vocabulary | NLS | # different words used referentially in 20 min |
2–15 words | More, bubble, go, open, ball |
5 types and 20 tokens | |
| Parent report | # different word roots | (range for 13–18 months) | MCDI | AE for 15 months | ||
| Direct assessment | Confrontation naming | (range for 13–18 months) | Mullen; Reynell | AE for 15 months | ||
| Pragmatics | NLS | # different communicative functions |
2–5 functions | Comments; request | Comments + 1 other | |
| Direct assessment | # communication functions | (range for 13–18 months) | CSBS | AE for 15 months | ||
| Word Combinations 18–30 months |
Phonology | NLS | CV combinations Word structures % fully intelligible |
CV–CCVCC 1- to 3-syllable words 40%–80% |
Go, drink | Closed syllables CVC and 2-syllable words 50% intelligible |
| # consonants | 8–18 consonants | Early 8 + t, ng, k, g, f, v, ch, j |
10 consonants | |||
| Vocabulary | NLS | # different words used referentially in 20 min |
10–50 words | 30 words | ||
| Parent report | # different words | (range for 21–27 months) | MCDI; LDS | 24-month AE | ||
| Direct assessment | Confrontation naming | 21–27 months (age range) |
EOWVT-R | 24-month AE | ||
| Grammar | NLS | MLU | MLU:1.1–2.4 (in morphemes) |
MLU = 1.8 | ||
| Parent report | Mean length in words of 3 longest utterances |
(range for 21–27 months; on MDCI: 2.6–5.5) |
MCDI | MCDI: 3.8 | ||
| Direct assessment | See article text | 24-month AE | ||||
| Pragmatics | NLS | # different communicative functions |
3–6 functions | Comments, request; turn-taking |
Comments, request, turn-taking |
|
| Parent report | Proportional use of JA + Social/Total Comm acts |
.3–.7 | 0.5 | |||
| Conversational functions | Responds and initiates | Answers/asks question | 2 initiations + 2 responses | |||
| Inventory of child’s communicative use |
21–27 months (age range) |
LUI | 24-month AE | |||
| Sentences 30–48 months | Phonology | NLS | % fully intelligible | 70%–100% | 75% intelligible | |
| NLS | Consonant inventory | 16–24 different CS; 75% correct |
sh, th, s, z, l, zh | |||
| Direct assessment | AE score | GFTA-2 | 36-month AE | |||
| Vocabulary | NLS Direct assessment |
# different word roots AE score |
70–136 in 65 utterances (range for 30–48 months) |
SALT norms | 92 in 65 utterances 36-month AE |
|
| Grammar | NLS Direct assessment |
MLU in morphemes AE score |
2.7–4.0 MLU | MLU = 3.0 36-month AE | ||
| Pragmatics | Elicited NLS | Discourse functions | Narration | TEGI; SPELT-3 Pretense, talk about past/future |
1 narrative | |
| NLS | Conversational topic- related turn-taking |
2 full turns on same topic following adult utterance |
||||
| Parent report | Inventory of child’s communicative use |
30–48 months (age range) |
LUI | 36-month AE | ||
| Direct assessment | Communicative functions | 30–48 months (age range) |
CASL | 36-month AE on Pragmatics subtest |
Note. ASD = autism spectrum disorder; Lang. = language; NLS = natural language sample; CV = consonant–vowel; CVC = consonant–vowel–consonant; MCDI = MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory; AE = age equivalent; Mullen = Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen, 1995); Reynell = Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Reynell & Gruber, 1990); CSBS = Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (Wetherby & Prizant, 2002); LDS = Language Development Survey (Rescorla, 1989); EOWVT-R = Expressive One Word Vocabulary Test–Revised (Gardner, 1990); MLU = mean length of utterance; JA = joint attention; Comm = Communicative; LUI = Language Use Inventory (O’Neil, 2007); GFTA-2 = Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation–2 (Goldman & Fristoe, 2000); SALT = Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (Miller & Chapman, 1981); TEGI = Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (Rice & Wexler, 2001); SPELT-3 = Structured Phonographic Expressive Language Test–3 (Dawson & Stout, 2003); CASL = Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999).