Auditory-Motor Mapping Training as an Intervention to Facilitate Speech Output in Non-Verbal Children with Autism: A Proof of Concept Study

Although up to 25% of children with autism are non-verbal, there are very few interventions that can reliably produce significant improvements in speech output. Recently, a novel intervention called Auditory-Motor Mapping Training (AMMT) has been developed, which aims to promote speech production directly by training the association between sounds and articulatory actions using intonation and bimanual motor activities. AMMT capitalizes on the inherent musical strengths of children with autism, and offers activities that they intrinsically enjoy. It also engages and potentially stimulates a network of brain regions that may be dysfunctional in autism. Here, we report an initial efficacy study to provide ‘proof of concept’ for AMMT. Six non-verbal children with autism participated. Prior to treatment, the children had no intelligible words. They each received 40 individual sessions of AMMT 5 times per week, over an 8-week period. Probe assessments were conducted periodically during baseline, therapy, and follow-up sessions. After therapy, all children showed significant improvements in their ability to articulate words and phrases, with generalization to items that were not practiced during therapy sessions. Because these children had no or minimal vocal output prior to treatment, the acquisition of speech sounds and word approximations through AMMT represents a critical step in expressive language development in children with autism

Cross-linguistic relations between quantifiers and numerals in language acquisition: Evidence from Japanese

A study of 104 Japanese-speaking 2- to 5-year-olds tested the relation between numeral and quantifier acquisition. Experiment 1 assessed Japanese children’s comprehension of quantifiers, numerals, and classifiers. Relative to English-speaking counterparts, Japanese children were delayed in numeral comprehension at 2 years old, but showed no difference at 3 and 4. Also, Japanese 2-year-olds had better comprehension of quantifiers, indicating that their delay was specific to numerals. A second study examined the speech of Japanese and English caregivers, to explore the syntactic cues that might affect integer acquisition. In English, quantifiers and numerals occurred in similar syntactic positions, and overlapped to a greater degree than in Japanese. Also, Japanese nouns were often dropped, and both quantifiers and numerals exhibited variable positions relative to the nouns they modified. We conclude that syntactic cues in English facilitate bootstrapping numeral meanings from quantifier meanings, and that such cues are weaker in classifier languages like Japanese

Cross-linguistic relations between quantifiers and numerals in language acquisition: Evidence from Japanese

A study of 104 Japanese-speaking 2- to 5-year-olds tested the relation between numeral and quantifier acquisition. Experiment 1 assessed Japanese children’s comprehension of quantifiers, numerals, and classifiers. Relative to English-speaking counterparts, Japanese children were delayed in numeral comprehension at 2 years old, but showed no difference at 3 and 4. Also, Japanese 2-year-olds had better comprehension of quantifiers, indicating that their delay was specific to numerals. A second study examined the speech of Japanese and English caregivers, to explore the syntactic cues that might affect integer acquisition. In English, quantifiers and numerals occurred in similar syntactic positions, and overlapped to a greater degree than in Japanese. Also, Japanese nouns were often dropped, and both quantifiers and numerals exhibited variable positions relative to the nouns they modified. We conclude that syntactic cues in English facilitate bootstrapping numeral meanings from quantifier meanings, and that such cues are weaker in classifier languages like Japanese

Structure of an AMMT trial.

<p>To illustrate the steps, the target phrase here is “more please.”</p

Graphs of each participant's CV production across the baseline, treatment, and follow-up probe sessions.

<p>Graphs of each participant's CV production across the baseline, treatment, and follow-up probe sessions.</p

Percentage of correctly produced target words before and after 40 sessions of AMMT.

<p>Percentage of correctly produced target words before and after 40 sessions of AMMT.</p

An illustration of an AMMT trial.

<p>Therapist guiding a child in the unison production of a target word while tapping the electronic drum pads.</p