Speech and language therapy assessment based on applied behavior analysis: a scoping review

Almeida, Débora Pontes Cavalcante; Azoni, Cíntia Alves Salgado; Almeida, Larissa Nadjara Alves; Lima, Ivonaldo Leidson Barbosa; Delgado, Isabelle Cahino

doi:10.1590/2317-1782/e20240155pt

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Critical Review or Scoping Review • CoDAS 37 (4) • 2025 • https://doi.org/10.1590/2317-1782/e20240155en linkcopy

Speech and language therapy assessment based on applied behavior analysis: a scoping review

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

Purpose To identify and describe language assessment protocols from the perspective of ABA used in speech-language therapy.

Research strategies The question that guided the study was: What are the ABA-based language assessment protocols currently used in speech therapy? For the electronic search of articles, the databases used were Medline/PubMed, Lilacs, Web of Science and Scopus. The search strategy used indexed and free uniterms related to PCC.

Selection criteria Studies with a cross-sectional design were included, considering individuals undergoing language assessment as the population; ABA-based assessment protocols in speech-language therapy were included. Studies that did not focus on language assessment and with a literature review design, letters to the editor, books, abstracts from proceedings, opinion articles and technical articles were excluded.

Data analysis The data were analyzed descriptively, analyzing the studies' levels of evidence.

Results A total of 6,859 articles were identified in all the databases. Of these, 17 articles were selected by title, after reading the abstract. 12 were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria: 4 were review articles, 6 did not fit the objective of this research and 2 were repeated between the databases. Five were then selected for full text reading and subsequent data analysis.

Conclusion Only two language assessment protocols from the perspective of ABA used in speech therapy were found in this review: VB-MAPP and ABLLS-R. Both do not have validation studies for Brazilian Portuguese

Keywords:
Autistic Spectrum Disorder; Applied Behavior Analysis; Language Assessment; Scoping Review; Language and Hearing Sciences

Database	Search Strategy
LILACS	(“autism spectrum disorder” OR “autism” OR Children) AND (“language assessment” OR “validation study” OR “protocol” OR “language test” OR “assessment”) AND (“verbal behavior” OR “applied behavior analysis”)
PUBMED	(“autism spectrum disorder”[All Fields] OR “autism”[All Fields] OR “children”[All Fields]) AND (“language assessment”[All Fields] OR “validation study”[All Fields] OR “protocol”[All Fields] OR “language test” [All Fields] OR “assessment”[All Fields]) AND (“verbal behavior” [All Fields] OR “applied behavior analysis”[All Fields])
SCOPUS	(TITLE-ABS-KEY ((“autism spectrum disorder” OR “autism” OR “children”)) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ((“language assessment” OR “validation study” OR “protocol” OR “language test” OR “assessment”)) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ((“verbal behavior” OR “applied behavior analysis”)))

ARTICLES	AUTHOR	DATABASE	COUNTRY	JOURNAL
1	Padilla et al.(⁹)	PubMed	United States	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
2	Barnes et al.(¹⁰)	Scopus	United States	Analysis Verbal Behav
3	Sundberg and Michael(⁷)	Scopus/WoS	United States	Behavior Modification
4	Montallana et al.(¹¹)	PubMed/Scopus	United States	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
5	Myers et al.(⁸)	WoS	United States	Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

ARTICLE	VARIABLE	RESULT
1	INSTRUMENT	Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP)
	OBJECTIVE	To assess the content validity of the VB-MAPP, including the Early Echoic Skills Assessment (EESA) and the Barriers Assessment
	OUTCOME	Content validity was moderate to strong, although some areas had limited or conflicting support.
2	INSTRUMENT	Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP)
	OBJECTIVE	To examine the effects of behavioral skills training on the administration of the VB-MAPP milestone assessment by education professionals.
	OUTCOME	The training resulted in immediate increases in professional performance
3	INSTRUMENT	Skinner Analysis
	OBJECTIVE	To analyze the importance of Skinner analysis of verbal behavior in the treatment of children with autism
	OUTCOME	Skinner's Verbal Behavior Analysis can improve intervention programs for children with autism who already benefit from Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
4	INSTRUMENT	Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP)
	OBJECTIVE	To explore inter-rater consistency in the application of VB-MAPP
	OUTCOME	Although the Milestones Assessment and Barriers Assessment showed good and moderate reliability, respectively, the individual domains of each assessment were less reliable.
5	INSTRUMENT	Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills – Revised (ABLLS-R)
	OBJECTIVE	To evaluate the effectiveness of a state Medicaid program that provides home-based Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention services to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
	OUTCOME	There was significant variation in the initial scores of the children's ABLLS-R and its growth trajectories, with differences based on the initial age, ethnicity and geographical location

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