{"id":2216,"date":"2013-01-03T22:53:45","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T22:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/?p=2216"},"modified":"2015-12-31T09:10:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T17:10:29","slug":"study-to-assess-language-development-in-autistic-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.speechbuddy.com\/blog\/news\/study-to-assess-language-development-in-autistic-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Wondering How Autistic Kids Develop Language?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Autistic<\/a>

Image source: V180media.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Parents of autistic kids may sometimes express frustration that it is difficult to understand what\u2019s going on inside their children\u2019s minds. Some autistic kids are completely nonverbal, meaning that they don\u2019t speak at all. While speech therapy techniques<\/a> can help autistic kids, we still don\u2019t know nearly as much about autism spectrum disorder (ASD)<\/a> as we should. Some people have suggested that one of the communication problems between autistic and neurotypical people is that autism has an entirely unique language all its own. This doesn\u2019t seem too far-out when you consider that, if you\u2019re not a computer programmer, you might have difficulty understanding the computer geek at the office holiday party who is talking a mile a minute about MySQL performance analysis with TCP\/IP network traffic. (Still don\u2019t believe me? Check out this New York Times<\/em> article on Amanda Baggs, who is nonverbal, but has a \u201cconstant conversation with\u2026 (her) environment.\u201d)<\/a><\/p>\n

Speech therapy has definite benefits for children with autism. A speech-language pathologist (SLP)<\/a> can help a nonverbal child use an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device<\/a>. Those who struggle with articulation may benefit from Speech Buddies<\/a>. But we definitely need to know more about this disorder, and researchers have risen to the challenge.<\/p>\n

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New Research on Autistic Kids<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just this past December, a new video-article was published in the Journal of Visualized Experiments<\/em>. The researcher, Dr. Letitia Naigles, developed a new technique for assessing the language comprehension of autistic kids. Her technique is called the portable intermodal preferential looking assessment (IPL). It is an assessment that is conducted in the child\u2019s home with mobile equipment. The study participants watch two videos that are right next to each other. While the children watch the videos, their eye movements are tracked and assessed in order to judge language comprehension.<\/p>\n