Broome Kate, McCabe Patricia, Docking Kimberley, Doble Maree, Carrigg Bronwyn
Speech Pathology, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
South West Sydney Local Health District, Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia.
J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2021 Dec 13;64(12):4599-4613. doi: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00651. Epub 2021 Nov 3.
This study aimed to provide detailed descriptive information about the speech of a heterogeneous cohort of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and to explore whether subgroups exist based on this detailed speech data. High rates of delayed and disordered speech in both low-verbal and high-functioning children with ASD have been reported. There is limited information regarding the speech abilities of young children across a range of functional levels.
Participants were 23 children aged 2;0-6;11 (years;months) with a diagnosis of ASD. Comprehensive speech and language assessments were administered. Independent and relational speech analyses were conducted from single-word naming tasks and spontaneous speech samples. Hierarchical clustering based on language, nonverbal communication, and spontaneous speech descriptive data was completed.
Independent and relational speech analyses are reported. These variables are used in the cluster analyses, which identified three distinct subgroups: (a) children with high language and high speech ability ( = 10), (b) children with low expressive language and low speech ability but higher receptive language and use of gestures ( = 3), and (c) children with low language and low speech development ( = 10).
This is the first study to provide detailed descriptive speech data of a heterogeneous cohort of children with ASD and use this information to statistically explore potential subgroups. Clustering suggests a small number of children present with low levels of speech and expressive language in the presence of better receptive language and gestures. This communication profile warrants further exploration. Replicating these findings with a larger cohort of children is needed. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16906978.
本研究旨在提供关于自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）异质性儿童群体言语的详细描述性信息，并基于这些详细的言语数据探索是否存在亚组。已有报道称，低语言能力和高功能的ASD儿童中言语延迟和紊乱的发生率较高。关于不同功能水平幼儿言语能力的信息有限。
研究对象为23名年龄在2岁0个月至6岁11个月之间、被诊断为ASD的儿童。进行了全面的言语和语言评估。从单词命名任务和自发言语样本中进行了独立和关联言语分析。基于语言、非言语沟通和自发言语描述性数据完成了层次聚类。
报告了独立和关联言语分析。这些变量用于聚类分析，聚类分析确定了三个不同的亚组：（a）语言能力高且言语能力高的儿童（n = 10），（b）表达性语言和言语能力低但接受性语言和手势使用能力较高的儿童（n = 3），以及（c）语言和言语发展水平低的儿童（n = 10）。
这是第一项提供ASD异质性儿童群体详细描述性言语数据并利用这些信息进行统计探索潜在亚组的研究。聚类分析表明，少数儿童在接受性语言和手势较好的情况下，言语和表达性语言水平较低。这种沟通特征值得进一步探索。需要用更大的儿童群体重复这些研究结果。补充材料https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16906978 。
