Language Benchmarks in Children with ASD

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Language Phase	Language Domain	Measures	Variables	Range in Typical Development	Example	Minimum Criteria
First Words 12 - 18 months	Phonology	NLS	CV combinations or	CV-CVC	hi, Mommy	CV, or
	Phonology	NLS	Consonant Inventory	2 - 8 different consonants	m, b, y, n, w, d, p, h (Early 8)	4 consonants
	Vocabulary	NLS	# different words used referentially in 20 mins or	2 - 15 words	more, bubble, go, open ball	5 types and 20 tokens, or
		Parent Report	# different word roots or	(range for 13-18 mo.)	MCDI	AE for 15 months, or
		Direct Assessment	Confrontation naming	(range for 13-18 mo.)	Mullen; Reynell	AE for 15 months
	Pragmatics	NLS	# different communicative functions or	2 - 5 functions	comments; request;	Comments + 1 other, or
	Pragmatics	Direct Assessment	# communication functions	(range for 13-18 mo.)	CSBS	AE for 15 months
Word Combinations 18 - 30 months	Phonology	NLS	CV combinations or	CV - CCVCC	go, drink	Closed syllables, or
			Word structures or	1 - 3 syllable words		Syllable words, or
			% fully intelligible or	40 - 80%		50 % intelligible, or
			# consonants	8 - 18 consonants	Early 8 + t, ng, k, g, f, v, ch, j	10 consonants
	Vocabulary	NLS	# different words used referentially in 20 mins or	10 - 50 words		30 words, or
		Parent Report	# different words or	(range for 21-27 mo.)	MCDI; LDS	24 mo. AE, or
		Direct Assessment	Confrontation naming	21 - 27 mo. age range	EOWVT	24 mo. AE
	Grammar	NLS	mean length of utterance or	MLU: 1.1 - 2.4 (in morphemes)		MLU=1.8, or
		Parent Report	mean length in words of 3 longest utterances or	(range for 21-27 mo.; on MCDI:2.6-5.5)	MCDI	MCDI: 3.8, or
		Direct Assessment			See text	24 mo. AE
	Pragmatics	NLS	# different communicative functions or	3 - 6 functions	comments, request; turn-taking	comments, request, turn-taking, or
			Proportional JA+Social/Total Comm. Acts or	.3 - .7		0.5, or
			Conversational functions or	responds and initiates	answer/ask question	2 initiations+ 2 responses, or
		Parent Report	Inventory of child's communicative use	21 - 27 mo. age range	LUI	24 mo. AE
*Sentences* 30 - 48 months	Phonology	NLS	% fully intelligible or	70-100%		75% intelligible, or
		NLS	Consonant Inventory or	16-24 different C; 75% correct	Previous Cs + sh, th, s, z, l, zh
		Direct Assessment	AE score		GFTA-2	36 mo. AE
	Vocabulary	NLS	# different word roots or	70-136 in 65 utterances	SALT norms	92 in 65 utterances, or
	Vocabulary	Direct Assessment	AE score	(range for 30-48 mo.)		36 mo. AE
	Grammar	NLS	MLU in morphemes or	2.7 - 4.0 MLU		MLU=3.0, or
	Grammar	Direct Assessment	AE score		TEGI; SPELT-3	36 mo. AE
	Pragmatics	Elicited NLS	Discourse functions or	narration	pretense; talk about past/future	1 narrative, or
		NLS	Conversational topic-related turn taking or			2 full turns on same topic, or
						following adult utterance
		Parent Report	Inventory of child's communicative use or	30 -48 mo. age range	LUI	36 mo. AE, or
		Direct Assessment	Communicative functions	30 -48 mo. age range	CASL	36 mo. AE on Pragmatic subtest

Key

Tests
Mullen: Mullen Scales of Early Learning (Mullen, 1995)
Reynell: Reynell Developmental Language Scales (Reynell & Gruber, 1990)
CSBS: Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales (Wetherby & Prizant, 2002)
MCDI: MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (Fenson et al., 2007)
LDS: Language Development Survey (Rescorla, 1989)
EOWVT: Expresssive One Word Vocabulary Test - Revised (Gardner, 1990)
LUI: Language Use Inventory (O'Neil, 2007)
GFTA-2: Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation -2 (Goldman & Fristoe, 2000)
SALT norms: Miller & Chapman (1981)
TEGI: Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (Rice & Wexler, 2001)
SPELT 3: Structured Photographic Expressive Language Test 3 (Dawson & Stout, 2003)
CASL: Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language (Carrow-Woolfolk, 1999)

Other Abbreviations
NLS: Natural Language Sample
AE: Age equivalent
MLU: Mean Length of Utterance
C: Consonant
V: Vowel

Incorrect syntax near ')'.