The social and symbolic quality of autistic children's communication.
Just being there pushes autistic children to communicate more and better.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Locurto et al. (1980) watched six autistic children for eight months.
They counted how often each child talked or gestured for social reasons.
Teachers were sometimes in the room and sometimes not.
The team also gave each child an IQ test and the Vineland Social Age test.
What they found
Kids spoke and gestured more when a teacher was present.
Their words and gestures also looked more social and more symbolic.
Scores went up over the eight months.
Children with higher IQ and higher Vineland Social Age showed the biggest gains.
How this fits with other research
Smith et al. (1997) set the stage by listing typical preschool social rates.
M et al. used those numbers to judge what "good" social talk looked like.
de Jonge et al. (2025) later showed teacher-style adult cues still work.
Their Pathways parent program pushed toddlers into more shared attention.
It did not boost word count, just like M et al. saw quality beat quantity.
Why it matters
You can lift social communication right away by staying in the room.
Don’t wait for new gear or programs; your body and voice are tools.
Track both how often and how social each message is.
Use quick Vineland and IQ data to spot who will need the most practice.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The developmental status of the communicatory behavior of 11 autistic children was assessed. Children were observed during free play sessions under two conditions: when teachers were present to direct the children's behavior and when teachers were absent and the children played among themselves. Mean changes in the children's communicatory behavior were measured over time (8 months) using the behavior scale designed for this study. The relationship between the developmental status of the children's communicatory behavior and standardized measures of their social and cognitive functioning (e.g., IQ, Vineland Social Age) was also assessed. The results revealed that the quantity and social quality of autistic children's communicatory behavior were greater in the teachers' presence than in their absence and that the symbolic and social quality of the children's communicatory behavior increased over 8 months. Also, positive correlations were found between social and symbolic levels of communication and standardized tests of social and cognitive functioning. The implications of these findings for the assessment of autistic children are discussed.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1980 · doi:10.1007/BF02408289