Summary
This paper reports a method of analysing speech and language in young children which encompasses both level of development and also abnormalities in usage. It was developed initially for the purpose of (1) measuring changes in the language usage of autistic children as a result of a treatment programme (Howlin et al, 1973a Hemsley et al, 7977); (2) comparing the language characteristics of autistic and developmental “dysphasic” children Bartak et al, 1975; Rutter, 1976; Cantwell et al, 1977); and (3) comparing the language of young normal children with that of both these language disordered groups. Nevertheless, the method is designed to be usable for the study of any group of children, normal or abnormal, in the early and middle stages of language development.