Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)

Gabig, Cheryl Smith

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1110

Cheryl Smith Gabig²

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Synonyms

Typical length

Definition

Mean length of utterance (MLU) is the average number of morphemes per utterance. It is an index of expressive language development used beyond the stage of single words, when a child uses two or more words together in an utterance. It is calculated in 100 spontaneous utterances by counting the number of morphemes in each utterance divided by the total number of utterances. MLU is used as a benchmark to assess individual differences and developmental changes in grammatical development in children in the early stages of language acquisition. Children with autism frequently demonstrate differences in MLU compared to non-autistic developmentally delayed children and typically developing children by producing shorter utterances with fewer grammatical morphemes. Recent research has acknowledged the use and utility of using MLU as an index for language development in children with autism (Condouris, Meyer, & Tager-Flusberg, 2003; Tager-Flusberg et al., 2009)....

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References and Readings

Brown, R. (1973). A first language: The early stages. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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Tager-Flusberg, H., Rogers, S., Cooper, J., Landa, R., Lord, C., Paul, R., Rice, M., Stoel-Gammon, C., Wetherby, A., & Yoder, P. (2009). Defining spoken language benchmarks and selecting measures expressive language development for young children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Speech-Language-Hearing Research, 52, 643–652.
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Authors and Affiliations

Department of Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, Lehman College/The City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. West, 10468, Bronx, NY, USA
Dr. Cheryl Smith Gabig (Assistant Professor)

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Dr. Cheryl Smith Gabig
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Correspondence to Cheryl Smith Gabig .

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Editors and Affiliations

Irving B. Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology Yale University School of Medicine, Chief, Child Psychiatry Children's Hospital at Yale-New Haven Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA
Fred R. Volkmar (Director, Child Study Center) (Director, Child Study Center)

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Gabig, C.S. (2013). Mean Length of Utterance (MLU). In: Volkmar, F.R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1110

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1698-3_1110
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1697-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1698-3
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science

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