Research

In 2019 the Center for Autism Research Excellence at Boston University ran a study funded by the Simons Foundation looking to validate the newly developed toddler adaptation of ELSA, ELSA-T. This was done by comparing the two protocols using real time coding to assess whether these protocols were equivalent. Specifically, we analyzed specific variables in ELAN including, frequency of utterance (number of utterances/unit time) length of utterance (mean/median length of utterance) and number of conversational turns. We found that, taken together, our findings provide support for the equivalency of these language elicitation protocols. Additionally, this supports the implementation of ELSA and ELSA-T in future clinical trials enrolling individuals with ASD, who span a wide age range, as an effective measure of expressive language. These protocols can be adapted to be culturally appropriate to meet the needs of each individual. ELSA and ELSA-T are implemented in a play-based/naturalistic setting and thus, may be more representative of the individual’s expressive language abilities, than other types of measures (e.g., standardized). Use of different versions of these protocols can be used pre- and post-intervention to assess expressive language skills over time.