STRATEGY INSTRUCTION FOR TYPICALLY DEVELOPING CHILDREN: JOINT BOOK READING WITH CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER WHO REQUIRE AUGMENTATIVE AND ALTERNATIVE COMMUNICATION.
Open Access
Author:
Finke, Erinn H
Graduate Program:
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
June 02, 2008
Committee Members:
Kathryn D R Drager, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Janice Catherine Light, Committee Member Carol Anne Miller, Committee Member David Brent Mcnaughton, Committee Member
Keywords:
Autism Spectrum Disorder Augmentative and Alternative Communication Strategy Instruction
Abstract:
As a result of their inherent difficulty with social interaction and communication, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently require support to communicate and engage in successful social interactions. However, most communicative partners, both adults and typically developing children, do not naturally provide this support. To address this critical problem, the current study implemented a single-subject, A-B case study design with five replications, to investigate an instructional program for child communication partners of children with ASD who required augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Each typically developing child was taught to implement an interaction strategy involving: (a) reading the text on the page of the book, (b) waiting [i.e., expectant delay]), and (c) responding to the child with ASD with a topic related response. Instruction was implemented in accordance with current principles of strategy instruction and lasted a maximum of 2.25 hours. All five typically developing children demonstrated acquisition of the “read, wait, and respond” strategy and used the strategy during joint book reading interactions with the children with ASD. Each typically developing child also generalized to a novel book reading medium and maintained use of the strategy for two months post-intervention. Results, future research directions and limitations are discussed.
