A Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Early Initiation of Speech Therapy and Its Positive Impact on Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a condition that consists predominantly of an apparent early delay in communication and social skills. Among the multiple identified etiologies, genetics play a key role. The implementation of early interventional therapy for children with ASD is starting to show promising results. A few medical databases were used to collect multiple published types of research, which were thoroughly screened. Ultimately, a small amount was selected according to the defined eligibility criteria. The 12 articles that were reviewed involved a more significant number of boys than girls, and most clinical trials displayed the importance of starting early therapy. Astonishingly, the overwhelming effects of the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect the continuation of speech therapy in certain areas. In addition, studies emphasize knowledge scarcity, insufficient resources in certain areas, and the demand to educate the community. Conversely, no difference in the level of severity was noted with the implementation of early therapy. Early therapy, chiefly speech therapy used to treat children with ASD, demonstrated favorable outcomes. Communities require awareness about the condition on a broader scale to educate caregivers on early alarming symptoms. All in all, additional exploration needs to be done.

SETBP1 Haploinsufficiency and Related Disorders Clinical and Neurobehavioral Phenotype Study

“…36 Early detection of language and speech delays and initiation of speech therapy for individuals report positive outcomes in communication and other areas of development for individuals with language delays, ID and/or ASD. 37,38,39,40 ID/DD were noted for 95% of the individuals with SETBP1-HD and 100% with SETBP1-RD. As a diagnosis of ID now considers adaptive functioning, we also looked at the overall adaptive functioning score on the VABS-3 and noted that all individuals within this study fell in the borderline-mild range.…”

“…36 Early detection of language and speech delays and initiation of speech therapy for individuals report positive outcomes in communication and other areas of development for individuals with language delays, ID and/or ASD. 37,38,39,40…”

Treating Target Behaviors of Autistic Individuals With Applied Behavior Analysis: An Ongoing Replication Study

“…Prevalence estimates have increased, indicating a wide variation among different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds. Children with ASD undergo many interventions at home, in the clinic, and at school to help with issues inherent to the disorder [1][2][3].…”