By Michelle Diament
March 4, 2013
The majority
of youngsters with autism who have severe language delay do eventually learn to
talk, researchers say.
Some 70
percent of children with the developmental disorder who were not making
meaningful phrases by age 4 ultimately achieved some form of speech by age 8 —
whether talking in phrases or fluently — according to findings reported Monday
in the journal Pediatrics.
The study is
based on a review of clinical data on 535 children with autism who had no
significant speech by the time they turned 4.
Children
were most likely to gain language abilities if they had high nonverbal
intelligence and good social engagement, the study found. In fact, researchers
said that kids with typical intelligence levels gained language almost six
months sooner than those with below average IQ scores.
“We hope the
results of this study empower parents of children with autism and severe
language delays to know that, with the appropriate therapy, a child will likely
make significant gains in this area over time,” said Ericka Wodka, a
neuropsychologist at the Kennedy Krieger Center for Autism and Related
Disorders, who led the study.
“However,
progress should be expected to be slower for those children with lower intellectual
abilities,” she said.
Source: www.disabilityscoop.com
Cool!
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