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document
Measuring and supporting language function for children with autism : evidence from a randomized control trial of a social-interaction-based therapy . In a report of the effectiveness of MEHRIT , a social-interaction-based intervention for autism , Casenhiser et al . ( Autism 17 ( 2 ) :220-241 , 2013 ) failed to find a significant advantage for language development in the treatment group using standardized language assessments . We present the results from a re-analysis of their results to illustrate the importance of measuring communicative language acts ( formally called " speech acts " ) . Reanalysis confirmed that children in the MEHRIT group outperformed the community treatment group on measures of MLUm , number of utterances produced , and various speech act categories . The study underscores the importance of functional language measures in guiding and evaluating treatment for children with autism , and suggests that MEHRIT is effective in improving children 's use of language during parent-child interactions .
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Intervention_Psychological
social-interaction-based therapy
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Intervention_Educational
MEHRIT , a social-interaction-based intervention
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Intervention_Educational
MEHRIT
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Outcome_Other
effectiveness
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Outcome_Mental
communicative language acts
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Outcome_Other
outperformed
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Outcome_Mental
MLUm , number of utterances produced , and various speech act categories .
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Outcome_Other
functional language measures
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Outcome_Other
children 's use of language during parent-child interactions
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Participant_Age
children
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Participant_Condition
autism
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Participant_Condition
autism