Speech Prosody Interventions for Persons With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review.

Area of Science:

• Speech-Language Pathology
• Developmental Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often associated with atypical prosodic patterns in speech.
• These prosodic differences can impede effective social communication and interaction.
• Identifying effective interventions is crucial for supporting individuals with ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review interventions aimed at improving expressive speech prosody in individuals with ASD.
• To provide clinicians with evidence-based options for treatment decisions.
• To synthesize findings on intervention effectiveness for speech prosody in ASD.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive search of 13 electronic databases was conducted.
• Keywords included autism, intervention, and speech prosody.
• 13 peer-reviewed articles were systematically analyzed for intervention characteristics and outcomes.

Main Results:

• Interventions directly targeting speech prosody with established evidence-based practices demonstrated moderate to large improvements.
• Interventions with longer treatment durations (more than one day) were more effective.
• Indirectly targeted or very short interventions showed minimal or no significant effects.

Conclusions:

• Directly targeting speech prosody through evidence-based interventions is most effective for improving typical speech patterns in individuals with ASD.
• Further research is necessary to determine optimal interventions for various age groups and settings.
• This review supports clinicians in selecting targeted prosody interventions for ASD.