title: Evaluation of a language program for young autistic children.
abstract: This report presents retrospective data comparing an individualized language development program for preschool autistic children receiving language remediation (experimental subjects) with a group receiving the basic school curriculum only (control subjects). All findings favored the language remediation group, as indicated: (1) experimental subjects made significant gains in one year while the control group required two years; (2) after one year, experimental subjects surpassed controls on four measures; (3) only experimental subjects made significant gains in communicative speech, noteworthy because interpersonal interaction is so difficult for the autistic child; and (4) after two years, 58% of the experimental subjects, but only 14% of the controls, had mastered all seven skills. These results support the hypothesis that an individualized language remediation program facilitates the acquisition of prelinguistic and linguistic skills.
mesh_terms: D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008037:Linguistics; D012189:Retrospective Studies