Investigating the Correlation Between Auditory Processing Abilities and Verbal Output of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism Spectrum‌ Disorder‌ (ASD) is characterized by deficits in social communication and repetitive behaviors or restricted interests. The ability to communicate verbally is considered a positive prognostic indicator of outcomes for children with ASDs. One of the major problems in autism is the sensory processing deficit, and in particular the abnormalities of auditory processing. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine and investigate the correlation between auditory processing ability and verbal output of children with autism spectrum disorder.

The present analytical descriptive correlation study was conducted in 2018. The statistical population of the research was children with autism aged 4 to 7 years from speech therapy centers in Tehran, and 40 qualified volunteers were included in the study. To collect related data, the following standard tests were used: the childhood autism rating scale for screening and diagnosing children with autism from the age group of two years and older which had 15 items, and Fisher's auditory problems checklist with 25 items. The collected data were analyzed using the Poisson regression test.

The results of the present study indicated that there was a correlation between auditory processing ability and verbal output of children with autism spectrum disorder who participated in this study (p=0.46). Moreover, considering different levels of auditory processing, between auditory processing ability and output Verbal correlation was observed only at the level of high auditory processing ability (p=0.43). [

The results of this study showed that the ability of auditory processing was an important factor for development of verbal output in children with ASD. Early screening and intervention of auditory processing impairments in these children can facilitate the rehabilitation programs.