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Early Predictors of Growth in Diversity of Key Consonants Used in Communication in Initially Preverbal Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

Diversity of key consonants used in communication (DKCC) is a value-added predictor of expressive language growth in initially preverbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Studying the predictors of DKCC growth in young children with ASD might inform treatment of this under-studied aspect of prelinguistic development. Eighty-seven initially preverbal preschoolers with ASD and their parents were observed at five measurement periods. In this longitudinal correlational investigation, we found that child intentional communication acts and parent linguistic responses to child leads predicted DKCC growth, after controlling for two other predictors and two background variables. As predicted, receptive vocabulary mediated the association between the value-added predictors and endpoint DKCC.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by National Institute for Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD R01 DC006893) and supported by the National Institute for Child Health and Disorders through the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (P30HD15052) and the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (P30HD03110). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. We are very grateful to our wonderful staff (Nicole Thompson, Paula McIntyre, Ariel Schwartz, Tricia Paulley, Kristen Fite, Maura Tourian, Ann Firestine, Lucy Stefani, Olivia Fairchild, Amanda Haskins, Danielle Kopkin, and Kathleen Berry) and the families who trust us with their precious children. This project was additionally supported by CTSA award No. KL2TR000446 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences or the National Institutes of Health.

Author Contributions

Tiffany: Data Collection/Coding, Data Analysis, Interpretation of Results, Writing/Revision of Manuscript Linda: Acquisition of Funding, Management of Personnel, Interpretation of Results, Writing/Revision of Manuscript Elizabeth: Management of Personnel, Data Collection/Coding, Writing/Revision of Manuscript Cassandra: Data Collection/Coding, Writing/Revision of Manuscript Bahar: Data Collection/Coding, Writing/Revision of Manuscript Paul: Acquisition of Funding, Management of Personnel, Data Collection/Coding, Data Analysis, Interpretation of Results, Writing/Revision of Man

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Tiffany Woynaroski

  2. Speech and Hearing Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Linda Watson

  3. Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Elizabeth Gardner

  4. Pediatrics, Psychiatry, & Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Cassandra R. Newsom

  5. Special Education, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey

    Bahar Keceli-Kaysili

  6. Special Education, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    Paul J. Yoder

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  1. Tiffany Woynaroski
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Correspondence to Paul J. Yoder.

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Woynaroski, T., Watson, L., Gardner, E. et al. Early Predictors of Growth in Diversity of Key Consonants Used in Communication in Initially Preverbal Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 46, 1013–1024 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2647-7

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