“…Although delays and deficits in oral language are not core characteristics of children with ASD, they are nevertheless generally among the first symptoms of this special educational need (Durleman, Marinis, & Franck, 2016). According to Green and Scott (2011) speech disorders include problems in articulation (ie, substitutions, distortion, omissions, additions), fluency (ie, stuttering) and voice (ie, vocal quality, pitch, intonation) and linguistic disorders, however, include problems in the following areas: form (phonology, morphology, syntax), content (semantics) and function (pragmatics). Simms reports that upon entering kindergarten, approximately 7% to 8% of children have evidence of language impairment and are at significant risk of difficulty with language learning and social adjustment tasks as they progress through school.…”