Most language is acquired in the first four years of life.
Steve Warren and his colleague Paul Yoder have been developing methods of teaching pre-language skills to young children at risk for language delays. The outcome of this project will have direct implication for the emphasis and focus of intervention efforts with children between the ages of 2 and 4 years. Autism is considered a spectrum disorder because the symptoms and characteristics can be present in different combinations and different levels of severity. Although autism appears during the first three years of life, surprisingly little research has been directed toward identifying the features of autism that are prominent in children under 3 years and so children are often not identified until the age of 4 or later. This later identification may result in a failure to obtain early intervention services at a time that might have the greatest impact on brain development.