Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40366555›Full record

ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2026

Expressive Vocabulary in Mandarin-Speaking Autistic, Developmentally Delayed, and Typically Developing Children: A Cross-sectional Study.

Min Liu, Yuran Luo, Xiaopeng Bai, Yanxia Wang, Xinyu Hu, Mudi Sun, Lu Qu, Xuling Han, Hang Zhao, Haidan Lu and 1 more

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Min LiuShanghai Institute of AI for Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0001-9424-8546
Yuran LuoDepartment of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Xiaopeng BaiDepartment of Chinese Language and Literature, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.
Yanxia WangDepartment of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6303-8573
Xinyu HuInnovation Lab of Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0003-3047-1735
Mudi SunDepartment of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0002-8049-6693
Lu QuShanghai Institute of AI for Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9613-3662
Xuling HanInnovation Lab of Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0005-2815-4372
Hang ZhaoDepartment of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8861-2882
Haidan LuDepartment of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5178-6432
Qiaoyun LiuDepartment of Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. qyliu@spe.ecnu.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2014-9537

Funding

PI Team Building Project of Changning Maternity & Infant Health Hospital PI202432The Humanities and Social Science Project of Ministry of Education of China 23YJC740035the Major Program of Humanities and Social Science of Shanghai Education Commission 2023SKZD07the National Key Research and Development Program of China 2022YFC2705201the State Language Commission's "14th Five-Year Plan" Scientific Research Project YB145-21
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeResearch investigating the characteristics of expressive vocabulary in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is limited, particularly in cross-linguistic contexts. This study aimed to systematically identify the characteristics of expressive vocabulary in 3- to 6-year-old Mandarin-speaking children with ASD.

methodsWe analyzed 10-min spontaneous language samples from parent-child free play sessions involving 21 children with ASD, 18 developmentally matched children with developmental delay (DD), and 15 chronologically age-matched typically developing (TD) children. The analysis was based on the grammatical characteristics of Mandarin.

resultsAll three groups demonstrated a preference for verbs. Children in the ASD group showed a significantly lower number of tokens and types than those in the TD group in 11 content word categories and five function word categories. The ASD group exhibited greater similarities with the DD group in most vocabulary categories regarding the number of tokens, types, and type-to-token ratio (TTR) but still displayed subtle differences. Notably, the ASD group had a significantly higher total TTR than the TD and DD groups. The number of types of common nouns, number of tokens of pronouns were significantly lower in the ASD group than in the DD group.

conclusionThese preliminary findings suggest that the language development of TD children is reflected in standardized tests and vocabulary expression in spontaneous language samples compared to children with ASD. Additionally, the qualitative differences in expressive vocabulary between the DD and ASD groups indicate that children with ASD may exhibit atypical vocabulary learning mechanisms.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderAutistic DisorderDevelopmental DisabilitiesVocabularyChildChild, PreschoolCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHumansMaleAutism spectrum disorderContent wordDevelopmental disorderExpressive vocabularyFunction wordVocabulary diversity

Identifiers

PMID40366555

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.