Stability of Vocal Variables Measured During the Early Communication Indicator for Children With Autism Spectrum...

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Autism Spectrum Disorder Research

Background:

• The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) is established for measuring expressive communication in young children.
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) impacts communication development, necessitating reliable assessment tools.
• Vocal development is a key area of focus for early intervention in children with ASD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the Early Communication Indicator (ECI) as a sampling context for stable vocal development measures in young children with ASD.
• To determine the number of ECI sessions needed to stabilize estimates of volubility, communicative use, and phonological complexity.
• To assess stability of vocal measures at two time points, approximately 10 months apart.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 6-minute Early Communication Indicator (ECI) procedure.
• Recruited 83 young children diagnosed with ASD (mean age 23.33 months).
• Analyzed vocalizations for volubility, communicative use, and phonological complexity across multiple sessions.

Main Results:

• At study initiation, two phonological complexity variables required two sessions for stable estimates.
• Other vocal variables initially required three sessions for stabilization.
• At study endpoint, all vocal development variables required fewer sessions for stable measurement, indicating improved efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the feasibility of using the Early Communication Indicator (ECI) for assessing vocal development in young children with ASD.
• The ECI procedure provides stable measures of vocal development with a limited number of sessions.
• The ECI is a viable tool for research and clinical practice involving early communication in children with ASD.