1 Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Australia.
2 The University of Melbourne, Australia.
Autism. 2019 Jul;23(5):1322-1334. doi: 10.1177/1362361318801617. Epub 2018 Nov 20.
Few studies have examined growth and predictors of receptive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorder. Here we aimed to compare receptive vocabulary from 4 to 8 years and identify predictors of receptive vocabulary, at 8 years, in children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Participants were drawn from a nationally representative population-based study with two cohorts recruited at birth (N = 4983) and kindergarten (N = 5107). Receptive vocabulary growth was compared for children with and without autism spectrum disorder at 4 (n = 188, n = 7136), 6 (n = 215, n = 7297) and 8 (n = 216, n = 7408) years. Predictors of receptive vocabulary were analysed. Estimated mean receptive vocabulary scores for children without autism spectrum disorder were 2.3 units higher than the autism spectrum disorder group across three time points. This difference was significant (p = 0.004; 95% confidence interval 0.769-3.927). Children with and without autism spectrum disorder progressed at a similar pace. There was no significant difference between the proportions of children with and without autism spectrum disorder who had stable, improving and declining trajectories. Age was the only significant predictor of greater receptive vocabulary growth in children with autism spectrum disorder. Baseline receptive language and nonverbal IQ were significant predictors of receptive vocabulary ability at 8 years. These findings inform prognostic advice given to families on language outcomes.
目前，仅有少数研究探讨了自闭症谱系障碍儿童的词汇量增长及其预测因素。本研究旨在比较自闭症谱系障碍儿童与非自闭症谱系障碍儿童在 4 至 8 岁之间的词汇量，并确定导致两组儿童在 8 岁时词汇量差异的预测因素。本研究的数据来源于一项全国性的基于人群的队列研究，共纳入了两个队列的参与者：出生队列（n=4983）和幼儿园队列（n=5107）。本研究比较了 4 岁（n=188，n=7136）、6 岁（n=215，n=7297）和 8 岁（n=216，n=7408）时自闭症谱系障碍儿童与非自闭症谱系障碍儿童的词汇量增长情况。并对词汇量的预测因素进行了分析。结果显示，在三个时间点上，非自闭症谱系障碍儿童的平均词汇量得分均比自闭症谱系障碍儿童高 2.3 个单位。这一差异具有统计学意义（p=0.004；95%置信区间 0.769-3.927）。自闭症谱系障碍儿童和非自闭症谱系障碍儿童的词汇量增长速度相似。自闭症谱系障碍儿童和非自闭症谱系障碍儿童中具有稳定、改善和下降轨迹的儿童比例没有显著差异。年龄是自闭症谱系障碍儿童词汇量增长的唯一显著预测因素。基线语言接受能力和非言语智商是非自闭症谱系障碍儿童 8 岁时词汇量的显著预测因素。这些发现为向家庭提供语言预后相关建议提供了依据。
