“Functional speech” by 5 years of age is widely established as increasing the probability of long-term positive outcomes across a range of domains for autistic individuals. While terms such as “functional” or “useful” speech are often used, what defines these terms is not well established. Furthermore, most research focusing on language development has emphasized the transition from little or no language to use of single words, but much less is known about the transition from single words to phrase speech, which could be equally important. The verb lexicon is foundational to the development of simple, generative phrases and has been linked to prosocial behaviors and general developmental outcomes including better social communication skills, socioemotional reciprocity, and nonverbal communication in autistic children. The current systematic review synthesized information from 20 independent samples to characterize autistic children who transitioned from single words to phrase speech. On average, 48% of the pooled sample transitioned to phrase speech during the study periods. Results were highly variable across studies. Participants under the age of 5 years were more likely to transition to phrases than participants over the age of 5. Though average standard scores were above 50, children who transitioned to phrases generally demonstrated below average adaptive and cognitive skills and moderate-high ASD symptomatology. Variable measures of cognition made it difficult to ascertain patterns in cognitive skills; nonetheless, nonverbal IQ emerged as a salient predictor of the transition to phrases across studies. More research is needed to better understand who transitions beyond single words, clinical benchmarks on the way to generative phrase speech and the factors that predict this transition. Such information can be used to inform clinical decision making and develop or improve targeted interventions based on individual communication profiles. This could make the use of phrases more likely for a greater number of autistic individuals, increasing the likelihood that these individuals communicate independently and effectively with others.

到 5 岁时的“功能性言语”被广泛认为可以增加自闭症患者在一系列领域取得长期积极结果的可能性。虽然经常使用“功能性”或“有用”语音等术语，但定义这些术语的内容尚不明确。此外，大多数专注于语言发展的研究都强调从很少或没有语言到使用单个单词的过渡，但对从单个单词到短语语音的过渡知之甚少，这可能同样重要。动词词典是发展简单、生成性短语的基础，并与亲社会行为和一般发展结果有关，包括更好的社交沟通技巧、社会情感互惠和自闭症儿童的非语言交流。当前的系统评价综合了来自 20 个独立样本的信息，以描述从单个单词过渡到短语语音的自闭症儿童的特征。平均而言，在研究期间，48% 的混合样本过渡到短语语音。研究结果差异很大。5 岁以下的参与者比 5 岁以上的参与者更有可能过渡到短语。尽管平均标准分数高于 50，但过渡到短语的儿童通常表现出低于平均水平的适应和认知技能以及中高 ASD 症状。认知的可变测量方法使得确定认知技能的模式变得困难;尽管如此，非语言智商成为跨研究向短语过渡的显着预测指标。 需要更多的研究来更好地了解谁会超越单个单词、生成短语语音的临床基准以及预测这种转变的因素。这些信息可用于为临床决策提供信息，并根据个人沟通情况制定或改进有针对性的干预措施。这可能会使更多的自闭症患者更有可能使用短语，从而增加这些人与他人独立有效地交流的可能性。