Evaluating the Effectiveness of Structured Oral Language Therapy on Expressive Language in Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Embedding short, structured conversations, stories, and rhymes into daily preschool routines quickly expands expressive vocabulary for children with ASD.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Shams et al. (2025) worked with 19 preschoolers who have autism. The team added short, planned language games to normal daily routines. Kids chatted during breakfast, answered questions after morning circle, listened to stories, and sang rhymes. The program lasted eight weeks. No extra clinic room was needed; talk happened where kids already were.
What they found
After eight weeks, children used more different words and spoke in longer phrases. Gains showed up on standard vocabulary tests. Parents reported kids asked for items with new words instead of pointing or crying. Progress stayed strong at the final check.
How this fits with other research
Hou et al. (2025) ran a similar four-week study focused only on dialogic reading. Both papers found positive expressive-language gains, giving you confidence that story talk works. Abdi et al. (2023) tested a longer, multi-theory package in minimally verbal children and saw very large vocabulary jumps. Their bigger effect sizes extend Shams’ work, showing even stronger change is possible when you target the lowest speakers.
Schertz et al. (2016) pooled many early-intervention studies and concluded clinician-plus-parent teams produce the best spoken-language outcomes. Shams kept that team approach, aligning with the meta-analysis. Shillingsburg et al. (2020) used tabletop ABA drills to grow longer mand sentences. Their positive results complement Shams’ naturalistic style, giving you two proven routes: structured table work or chat during meals.
Why it matters
You do not need extra gear or a separate block of time. Tape a question card to the snack table, model a new noun, wait, and reinforce the child’s answer. Rotate the same plan across breakfast, story corner, and clean-up songs. In one week you can finish a mini-cycle and see if vocabulary graphs rise. If they do, keep the routine; if not, add the denser drills shown by Abdi or Shillingsburg.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comprises multiple mental and behavioural variations that mostly appear in early stage of life and effects persistently to all life. Establishing oral language plays an important role in expressive language, with a strong link to understanding reading and writing of ASD children. The study employed a quasi-experimental design to assess the impact of structured oral language activities on expressive language skills in ASD children. Nineteen participants, aged 3–5 years, engaged in activities such as mealtime conversations, morning discussions, storybook reading aloud and rhymes over an 8-week period. Pre-testing established baseline measures, and outcomes were assessed through the quantity and quality of expressive language exhibited across these activities. The highest number of participants were 4 years of age and the majority were male participants (78.9%). The result indicated that the mean ± standard deviation of the pre-test and post-test of expressive language skill was 0.263 ± 0.452 with a p-value of 0.021 ≤ 0.05 level of confidence, with the most significant gains observed in morning conservations (p = 0.001) and reading aloud (p < 0.001). An increase in both the quantity and complexity of expressive language was observed across all activities. Significant differences can be seen in the amount and type of expressive language in activities related to morning conversation and reading aloud. Children expressed an increase in learning of numbers of words used specifically nouns, verbs and adjectives, with an improvement in the expression of vocabulary. There was a significant difference in the expressive language of ASD children receiving structured oral language representing facilitation in language development in ASD children.
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 2025 · doi:10.2147/NDT.S521917