Targeting Oral Language and Listening Comprehension Development for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A School-Based Pilot Study.

Patton et al. (2020) ran a 20-week language program in public school classrooms. Teachers pulled small groups of first- and second-grade students with autism four days a week. Each 30-minute lesson mixed stories, questions, and play to build talking and listening skills.

Kids were randomly picked for the language group or for regular speech services only. The team tracked expressive vocabulary, story-telling, and listening comprehension every few weeks.

By week 20 the language-group kids used a large share more new words than controls. They told longer, clearer stories and answered more questions about short passages.

Gains stayed strong one month later, showing the extra practice stuck.

Kostulski et al. (2021) saw similar gains when middle-schoolers with autism picked their own reading passages. Together the two studies show small-group language work helps across grades.

Chen et al. (2001) used peer-run play groups and also saw big jumps in words. Their play method and R’s teacher-led lessons both work; you can match the style to your classroom culture.

Davison et al. (1995) tried a computer reading game and found skills faded after the program ended. R’s live peer interaction may explain why gains held longer.

You can copy this low-cost plan: four kids, four days a week, story plus talk. No fancy gear needed—just books, toys, and quick data sheets. If you run a self-contained class, swap 30 minutes of seat work for these chats and watch vocabulary and comprehension climb.