Azevedo Mafalda, Martins Alexandrina, Pereira Tatiana, Couto Pedro S, Lousada Marisa
RISE-Health-Department of Education and Psychology, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Center of Linguistics of the University of Lisbon, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
Autism Dev Lang Impair. 2025 Jun 17;10:23969415251350586. doi: 10.1177/23969415251350586. eCollection 2025 Jan-Dec.
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with development language disorder (DLD) often experience syntactic impairments. It is of the utmost importance to implement evidence-based intervention at the earliest possible stage to mitigate the adverse effects of these difficulties. Internationally, several programs are supported by scientific evidence. In Portugal, there are currently only two intervention programs, one of which is PROsyntax. However, its effectiveness has not yet been established.
This study aims to determine the effects of PROsyntax on expressive and receptive syntax in preschool-age children with syntactic impairments diagnosed with DLD or ASD.
This study is a nonrandomized controlled trial with a nonprobabilistic convenience sample. Thirty-one children aged between 3 and 6 years were recruited and allocated into an experimental group (EG, intervention group) ( = 14) and a control group (CG, without intervention) ( = 17). A blind pre- (T1) and postintervention (T2) assessment was conducted using two standardized instruments (SIN:TACS for expression and Subtest 3 of Avaliação da Linguagem Oral (ALO) for comprehension). Children in the EG received intervention with PROsyntax, comprising 24 sessions, biweekly, lasting 1 hr each. The intervention was conducted within the school setting by a speech and language therapist.
Statistically significant improvements were observed in the EG compared to the CG in both expressive (F(1,27) = 293.22; < .001; η = 0.92) and receptive (F(1,27) = 147.18; < .001; η = 0.85) syntax. Large effect sizes were found (SIN:TACS: d = 4.07 (DLD) and d = 11.67 (ASD); ALO: d = 3.29 (DLD) and d = 4.31 (ASD)). Strong correlations between measures were observed at both time points. Postintervention, the CG also received the intervention and showed comparable gains. High satisfaction ratings were reported by both families and early childhood educators.
The findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the effects of PROsyntax in improving expressive and receptive syntactic skills in preschool-age children with ASD or DLD. These findings have important implications for clinical practice, suggesting that explicit interventions can yield significant gains in preschool-age children with syntactic impairment. However, the nonrandomized design, small sample size, and absence of long-term follow-up limit the generalizability of results. Further research is needed to confirm these effects and explore differential responses across diagnostic groups.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童和发展性语言障碍（DLD）儿童常常存在句法缺陷。尽早实施循证干预以减轻这些困难所带来的不利影响至关重要。在国际上，有多个项目得到了科学证据的支持。在葡萄牙，目前仅有两个干预项目，其中之一是PROsyntax。然而，其有效性尚未得到证实。
本研究旨在确定PROsyntax对被诊断为DLD或ASD且存在句法缺陷的学龄前儿童的表达性和接受性句法的影响。
本研究是一项非随机对照试验，采用非概率便利样本。招募了31名3至6岁的儿童，将其分为实验组（EG，干预组）（n = 14）和对照组（CG，无干预组）（n = 17）。使用两种标准化工具（用于表达的SIN:TACS和用于理解的《口语评估》（ALO）子测试3）进行了盲法干预前（T1）和干预后（T2）评估。EG组的儿童接受了PROsyntax干预，包括24节课程，每两周一次，每次持续1小时。干预由一名言语治疗师在学校环境中进行。
与CG组相比，EG组在表达性（F(1,27) = 293.22；p <.001；η² = 0.92）和接受性（F(1,27) = 147.18；p <.001；η² = 0.85）句法方面均有统计学上的显著改善。发现了较大的效应量（SIN:TACS：d = 4.07（DLD）和d = 11.67（ASD）；ALO：d = 3.29（DLD）和d = 4.31（ASD））。在两个时间点的测量之间均观察到了强相关性。干预后，CG组也接受了干预并显示出类似的进步。家庭和幼儿教育工作者都给出了较高的满意度评分。
研究结果提供了初步证据，支持PROsyntax对改善ASD或DLD学龄前儿童的表达性和接受性句法技能的效果。这些发现对临床实践具有重要意义，表明明确的干预可以使患有句法缺陷的学龄前儿童取得显著进步。然而，非随机设计、小样本量以及缺乏长期随访限制了结果的普遍性。需要进一步的研究来证实这些效果，并探索不同诊断组之间的差异反应。
