Multi-component communication intervention for children with autism: A randomized controlled trial

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a multi-component communication intervention on social communication for young children with autism. As many as half of children with autism are not yet talking by age 3, and up to a third of children with autism will remain minimally verbal past age 5. Spoken language outcomes are greatest when parents and clinicians are delivering language interventions to children with autism as compared to parents or clinicians alone. This study incorporates caregiver training, Discrete Trial Teaching, and JASP + EMT + SGD. A total of 68 children between ages 3 and 5 with autism, and their caregivers, participated in this study. Children were randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. Children in the treatment group received 36 sessions of the multi-component intervention in the clinic and at home. Children in both groups received a speech-generating device and the caregivers received an individualized training on how to program the speech-generating device. All participants were evaluated prior to intervention, immediately following intervention, and 4 months following intervention. Children in the intervention group demonstrated significantly greater joint attention than those in the control group immediately following intervention. Children in the intervention group, additionally, demonstrated greater social communication with their caregivers 4 months following intervention. This brief, multi-component intervention may be effective for improving social communication in young children with autism who are at risk for remaining minimally verbal. Future research is needed to understand for whom and under what conditions this intervention is most effective. Lay abstract This study reports the results of a randomized trial for preverbal preschoolers with autism that demonstrates the effects of multiple intervention strategies including caregiver training. About 50% of children with autism are not talking by age 3 and up to 30% of children with autism will remain minimally verbal past age 5. Interventions delivered by clinicians and caregivers have the greatest effects on spoken language and may reduce the rate of those who remain minimally verbal. Sixty-eight children ages 3-5 with autism and their caregivers participated in this randomized trial comparing the communication intervention to a comparison group. A brief, multi-component, communication intervention (including a speech-generating device) for children with autism that addresses core deficits may be effective in improving joint attention skills immediately following intervention and social communication skills 4 months following intervention. Future research is needed to understand for whom and under what conditions this intervention is most effective.