{"id":1435,"date":"2026-08-30T22:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/?p=1435"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T12:52:36","slug":"cvc2026-733","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/cvc2026-733\/","title":{"rendered":"CVC2026-733 \u2013 Changing how children speak: Effects of syntactic intervention on spontaneous language in autism spectrum disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cvc-hero alignfull\">\n  <span class=\"cvc-chip\">Presentation \u2013 CVC2026-733<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">Changing how children speak: Effects of syntactic intervention on spontaneous language in autism spectrum disorder<\/h1>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"cvc-authors\">\n<p><strong>Mafalda Azevedo, <\/strong>RISE.Health, Portugal<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alexandrina Martins,<\/strong> University of Lisbon, Portugal<\/p>\n<p><strong>Marisa Lousada, <\/strong>RISE.Health; University of Aveiro, Portugal<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe title=\"CVC2026-733 Changing how children speak: Effects of syntactic intervention on spontaneous language i\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DW8Qlb9tIGw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n<p><strong>Background: <\/strong>Children with language disorders associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently show difficulties in syntactic production. However, intervention studies examining changes across multiple dimensions of syntax using language sample analyses (LSA) remain scarce, especially in early development.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aim: <\/strong>This study examined the effects of an explicit syntactic intervention program (PROsyntax) on spontaneous language in preschool-age children with ASD, using a multidimensional LSA framework capturing productivity, diversity, complexity, grammatical accuracy, and complementary clinically relevant linguistic markers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Method\/approach:<\/strong> Thirty-two monolingual European Portuguese-speaking preschoolers with ASD participated in a controlled non-randomised study with a waiting-list control group (CG; n=16). The experimental group (EG; n=16) received 24 individual one-hour PROsyntax sessions, twice weekly, delivered by a speech and language therapist. Narrative samples were analysed using LSA measures (e.g., MLU, PGU, SDI). Linear mixed-effects models tested Time x Group interactions, controlling for age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Ethical approval, parental consent, and institutional authorisation were obtained.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results\/findings: <\/strong>Compared with the CG over the same interval, the EG showed significantly greater gains in MLU (\u03b2=1.52, p&lt;0.001), PGU (\u03b2=0.64, p&lt;0.001), SDI (\u03b2=0.07, p&lt;0.001), and level of production of subordination (\u03b2=0.08, p&lt;0.001), alongside reductions in omission, agreement, and structural errors. Changes in simple clause use were not significant (\u03b2=0.12, p=0.144). When the CG later received the intervention, comparable gains were observed across all measures.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conclusion: <\/strong>These findings demonstrate that explicit syntactic intervention leads to robust and replicable improvements in spontaneous language in children with ASD. Gains reflect expansion of syntactic repertoire and increased grammatical accuracy, supporting the generalisation of intervention effects to everyday communication and highlighting their clinical relevance. Together, these findings also support the clinical utility of multidimensional LSA frameworks for capturing meaningful changes in naturalistic language use following intervention.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Implications for children and families: <\/strong>With targeted support from a speech and language therapist, your child can improve how they construct sentences in everyday communication, making their ideas clearer and more flexible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Implications for practitioners:<\/strong> You can use structured, explicit syntactic intervention and language sample analysis, supported by validated tools, to target and monitor meaningful changes in spontaneous language in children with autism spectrum disorder and to promote evidence-based practice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Funding:<\/strong><strong> <\/strong>This work was supported by national funds through FCT\u2014Fundac\u0327a\u0303o para a Cie\u0302ncia e a Tecnologia, I.P., within CINTESIS, R&amp;D Unit (UIDB\/4255\/2020 and UIDP\/4255\/2020) and within the scope of the project RISE (LA\/P\/0053\/2020), CLUL (UIDB\/00214\/2020), and a PhD grant (2022.12007.BD).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Keywords<\/strong><strong>:<\/strong> autism spectrum disorder, syntactic intervention, spontaneous language production, language sample analysis<\/p>\n<p><strong>This presentation relates to the following <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\/goal13\"><strong>United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<ul class=\"cvc-sdgs\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\/goal3\">SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\/goal4\">SDG 4: Quality Education<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sdgs.un.org\/goals\/goal10\">SDG\u00a010: Reduced Inequality<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mafalda Azevedo, RISE.Health, Portugal; Alexandrina Martins, University of Lisbon, Portugal; Marisa Lousada, RISE.Health; University of Aveiro, Portugal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,53,49,1],"tags":[45,46,47],"class_list":["post-1435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-childrens-communication","category-childrens-health-and-disability","category-childrens-inclusion","category-presentations","tag-sdg-03","tag-sdg-04","tag-sdg-10"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1435"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1435\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1454,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1435\/revisions\/1454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains\/2026\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}