Nonverbal communication and play correlates of language development in autistic children.

The team watched preschoolers with autism during free play. They wrote down every gesture, toy use, and word the child made.

They wanted to know if two things—play skills and joint attention—each tied to language level on their own.

Kids who used more pretend play had bigger vocabularies. Kids who shared looks and pointed more also had bigger vocabularies.

Each skill predicted language even after the other was counted out. You need to check both, not just one.

Lewis (2003) later said play and language barely link in autism. The clash is mostly about method: Vicky looked back at mixed studies; P et al. watched the same kids at one time and kept play and joint attention apart.

Iao et al. (2024) followed toddlers for 18 months and found joint attention still forecast later language, backing the core idea with stronger data.

Chen et al. (2001) turned the same two skills into a peer-play intervention and saw language jump, showing the link can be used for teaching.

When you assess a preschooler with autism, run a five-minute toy session. Score how many pretend acts you see and how often the child shifts eye contact to share fun. If either is low, flag it on the report and write goals for both areas. Targeting them together gives you two separate paths into language.