Comparisons between autistic and nonautistic children on the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language.

Researchers gave the Test for Auditory Comprehension of Language to autistic and non-autistic kids. They paired each autistic child with a non-autistic child who had similar skills. Then they checked if the groups scored differently and whether boys and girls within each group scored differently.

Both groups earned about the same receptive-language scores. Boys and girls within each group also scored about the same. The test did not show a language gap between autistic and non-autistic kids once they were matched for ability.

Ferguson et al. (2020) later saw the same null result with 4-year-olds on early literacy tasks. When language and cognition are matched, autism alone does not predict lower scores.

Kocher et al. (2015) and Matheis et al. (2019) extended the sex analysis to toddlers. They also found no meaningful boy-girl differences once cognitive level was controlled.

Oates et al. (2023) looks like a contradiction at first. Their review says autistic girls often outscore autistic boys on structural language. The key difference is comparison group: Rutter et al. (1987) compared autistic kids to matched non-autistic kids, while the review compared autistic girls to autistic boys. Both findings can be true.

When you use age or language-age matched controls, expect similar receptive-language scores. Do not assume an automatic deficit. Also, do not over-interpret small sex differences in your data. The weight of evidence says sex effects are tiny once ability is controlled. Focus your treatment goals on individual assessment results, not the child’s sex or diagnosis label.