Abstract Comprehensive early intervention programs based on the principles of applied behaviour analysis can promote social communication development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is not clear to what
extent these positive results represent progress towards help-ing children achieve the ultimate goal of spontaneous, flexi-ble, directed and effective spoken language for a range of purposes across all life contexts. The aim of this systematic review was to document the intervention targets and assess-ment tools used to measure spoken language outcomes for children withASD receiving comprehensive intervention pro-grams. A total of 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. Although social communication functioningwas themost fre-quently targeted aspect of development, assessment of these skills relied predominantly on the use of standardised assess-ments. No studies included sampling and analysis of the chil-dren’s spoken language in daily activities. The lack of com-prehensive measures with high ecological validity limits our ability to draw conclusions regarding spoken language out-comes from the studies to date. KeywordsComprehensive intervention.Early intensive behavioural intervention(EIBI) .Language.Autismspectrum disorder