Helping autistic children develop speech

There is a new treatment to help autistic children speak. Called Auditory-Motor Mapping Training (AMMT), the treatment builds on the observation that autistic children usually respond to music.

“Communication deficits are one of the core symptoms of autism,” explained first author Catherine Wan, PhD, a researcher in the Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Department of Neurology and an Instructor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School (HMS). “It has been estimated that up to 25 percent of all children with autism are nonverbal but surprisingly, not much is out there treatment-wise that directly helps these children to speak.” Autism affects an estimated ten percent of all children, most of them boys. They struggle typically with language development and have awkward social interactions.

With AMMT treatment, singing (intonation) and movement or motor activities are used to stimulate and strengthen a network of brain regions that is thought to be abnormal or underutilized in children with autism.

“We developed AMMT, in part, because another intonation-based therapy, known as Melodic Intonation Therapy, had been successful in helping stroke patients with aphasia recover their ability to speak,” said senior author Gottfried Schlaug, MD, PhD, Director of the Music and Neuroimaging Laboratory at BIDMC and Associate Professor of Neurology at HMS.

After eight weeks of using AMMT, six children in the very small study were able to approximate whole words and phrases. They could also generalize their speech production to words that were outside of the ones used in therapy. “Noticeable improvements in speech were seen as early as two weeks into the treatment,” explained Wan. “More importantly, improvements lasted as long as two months after the treatment sessions ended. . . For these nonverbal children to say their first words is especially gratifying for parents, and represents a critical step forward in their language development.”

Source: MedicalNewsToday, BIDMC