Morphosyntactic development in autistic children by implementing the Development of Communication Skills in Autism (DHACA) method

ABSTRACT Purpose: to investigate whether the Development of Communication Skills in Autism (DHACA) method promotes morphosyntactic development in nonverbal and minimally verbal autistic children. Methods: a case series study with a sample of 12 nonverbal or minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), aged 2 to 5 years. The intervention consisted of 16 to 20 sessions, using alternative communication through the DHACA method, by employing a low-tech alternative communication book. Data were collected from each child’s weekly progress records. Results: after the intervention, two children (16.67%) developed the ability to produce three-word sentences, eight children (66.67%) began producing 3-to-4-word sentences, and two children (16.67%) produced sentences with varied parts of speech. Considering the communicative skills achieved after the intervention, these children attained morphosyntactic structures with 3 to 7 words and diverse pragmatic functions. Conclusion: the intervention using the DHACA method contributed to morphosyntactic development, evidenced by an increase in sentence length and complexity, development of pragmatic functions, and expansion of vocabulary, ultimately promoting more functional communication.