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Autism Spectrum Disorders

Possible Language Deficits

One problem parents face is deciding whether their child is just slow to develop language (as some children are) or whether this slowness indicates a more serious problem.

Most children develop their first words between 12 and 15 months. Some parents whose child is slower to develop their first words may regard their child as a slow language developer, and not consider that slow language development may be a sign of a more serious situation. These parents may wait until their child is 18 to 24 months and still not talking before referring the child for an evaluation. Children who are slow language developers but who will catch up on their own need to be distinguished from children who are slow language developers because of more serious problems.

However, the situation is more complex than age at language development. For most effective treatment, children with ASDs shold be identified before they are 12 months old.

Wetherby, Prizant, 2000 suggest seven indicators that could allow earlier and more accurate identification:

• Emotion and use of eye gaze,
• Use of communication,
• Use of gestures,
• Use of sounds,
• Use of words,
• Understanding of words, and
• Use of objects.

Children who are delayed not only in the use of words but also are delayed in several of these seven indicators are likely to have more serious problems. Screening checklists to assess these seven prelinquistic indicators can help distinguish children who are slow language developers from those who may have more serious problems.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has a list of behaviors or warning signs that may characterize a language delay in one-year-olds Language delays could be caused by a variety of problems, including hearing loss and ASDs. Johnson, Myers, 2007 also list deficits that could be noticed at an early age.