# Predicting and Optimizing Language Outcomes in Minimally Verbal Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

> **NIH NIH P50** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS) · 2020 · $2,403,996

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
A significant number of children with ASD remain minimally verbal even after receiving quality interventions.
Recent studies have highlighted the heterogeneity of this group confirming that no single mechanism can
explain the underlying causes of their severe communication deficits. At the same time, innovative targeted
behavioral interventions can lead to improvements in speech and social communication in some minimally
verbal children. The goals of this Center, located at Boston University and University of California Los
Angeles, are to build on our earlier work addressing a central theme: Which young minimally verbal
children with ASD make gains acquiring language during the early school years and how can we
facilitate such progress? We approach these questions from a multidisciplinary perspective, employing
tools, methods, and approaches drawn from communication disorders, speech and motor science,
developmental neuroscience, genetics and interventions research. The four interconnected projects address
the following aims. Aim 1: To identify motor and neural mechanisms underlying the profound spoken
language impairments that define minimally verbal children with autism. In two projects on the same group
of young minimally verbal children we plan to characterize oral and general motor functioning using state-of-
the-art technologies, and electrophysiology to probe neural functioning (Project 1, 2). Aim 2: To advance
our understanding of how to optimize the language outcomes of young minimally verbal children with
ASD. We address this by carrying out a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral intervention that combines
social communication and oromotor targets (Project 3) and by following the children studied in Aim 1 for two
years to explore how changes in motor and neural functioning may predict diverse language pathways
(Projects 1, 2). Aim 3: To investigate genetic risk factors associated with minimally verbal ASD,
including both common and rare variants (Project 4). We plan to leverage the children enrolled in all the
projects to explore the relationship between the quantitative load for common polygenic risk for ASD and
language, motor, and neural phenotypes as well as genetic predictors of response to treatment and more
optimal developmental outcomes (all Projects). The projects are united and served by an Administrative Core
(A) and a Clinical and Data Management Scientific Core (B) that will carry out comprehensive assessments
using available and novel measures to capture the heterogeneous phenotypes of minimally verbal children
with ASD. Together, the research conducted in our Center will significantly advance our understanding of
the profound communication deficits at this neglected end of the autism spectrum, develop behavioral and
neural biomarkers that predict different developmental pathways for language, and may highlight potential
molecular targets for future novel therapeutic interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10001014
- **Project number:** 5P50DC018006-02
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY (CHARLES RIVER CAMPUS)
- **Principal Investigator:** CONNIE L. KASARI
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,403,996
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-09-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10001014

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10001014, Predicting and Optimizing Language Outcomes in Minimally Verbal Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (5P50DC018006-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10001014. Licensed CC0.

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