What Helps Autistic Children Develop Speech? - מה עוזר לילדים אוטיסטים לדבר?

מה עוזר לילדים אוטיסטים לדבר? - למאמר בעברית

A large new study (2025) examined 707 autistic children of preschool age (15 to 68 months) who received evidence based early interventions, in order to understand how many of them make progress in speech and which children remain with significant difficulty despite treatment.

The researchers did not settle for asking whether there is treatment, but asked a much more important question for parents:

How can we refine the intervention to increase the likelihood of the children developing spoken language?

They compared several well known types of interventions, including intensive behavioral intervention, NDBI approaches (including approaches such as ESDM, PRT, JASPER), as well as the TEACCH approach.

They also examined factors such as age at the start of treatment, duration of treatment, level of cognitive ability, ability to imitate movements, and social and adaptive functioning.

The findings:

About two thirds of the children who did not speak at the beginning did begin to use single words or more by the end of the intervention.

About half of the children who had limited verbal ability (single words) at the beginning of the study were later able to combine words into short sentences or reach a more advanced level of speech.

But still, about one third of the children with little or no speech at the beginning did not progress to a meaningful level of speech during the treatment period examined.

מה עוזר לילדים אוטיסטים לדבר? - למאמר בעברית

What characterized the children who did not succeed in acquiring speech?

• weaker motor imitation

• lower cognitive ability

• lower adaptive functioning

• more pronounced autistic symptoms

• later start of treatment

The researchers also found that the duration of treatment (in weeks) was more important than its intensity, at least in the context of progressing to a more advanced stage of speech.

In other words, continuity, consistency, and more time with the intervention may be very meaningful.

Among all evidence based approaches, no clear advantage was found for one intervention over another in terms of progress in speech.

The practical meaning of the study

The primary insight from the study is that most children who receive evidence based interventions do make progress.

Even when there is no immediate progress in speech, it is possible to identify earlier who is at risk and adjust the intervention accordingly.

The researchers especially emphasize the importance of working on early skills such as motor imitation, social communication, and cognitive abilities, as these may support language development.

They also note that it is important to consider, when needed, support through augmentative alternative communication, and not rely only on speech.

The use of a tablet or communication cards as augmentative communication does not prevent language development and may even encourage it.

מה עוזר לילדים אוטיסטים לדבר? - למאמר בעברית

The full article:

Vivanti, G., Lombardo, M. V., Zitter, A., Boyd, B., Dissanayake, C., Dufek, S., & Watson, L. (2025). Proportion and Profile of Autistic Children Not Acquiring Spoken Language Despite Receiving Evidence-Based Early Interventions. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 1-18.‏ https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2025.2579286

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