Storybook reading with young children with autism: a parent-implemented communication intervention

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience delays in their ability to speak and communicate with their parents, peers, and others. These children often benefit from evidence-based, parent-implemented communication interventions. One parent was trained and coached to use evidenced-based naturalistic communication teaching strategies (i.e., modeling, mand-model, and time delay) and storybook reading techniques while reading books with her child with ASD. Using a multiple-baseline design across naturalistic teaching strategies, the following three study components were examined, (a) the parent’s use of book reading techniques, (b) the parent’s rate and fidelity (quality) in using of the three naturalistic teaching strategies, and (c) perceptions of the parent and other adults (college students and practitioners) about the social validity of the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the intervention. The entire intervention period lasted 10 weeks. After training and coaching, the parent used the modeling, mand-model, and time delay strategies with higher rates and higher fidelity. The child initiated more communicative acts upon the parent’s use of time delay and increased her number of single-word responses. The parent believed that the intervention strategies supported her and led to improvements in her child’s communication skills. Adult raters evaluated intervention video clips significantly higher than baseline video clips on aspects of parent-child social engagement, child language, and the parent’s ability to facilitate the child’s communication

Storybook reading with young children with autism: a parent-implemented communication intervention

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may experience delays in their ability to speak and communicate with their parents, peers, and others. These children often benefit from evidence-based, parent-implemented communication interventions. One parent was trained and coached to use evidenced-based naturalistic communication teaching strategies (i.e., modeling, mand-model, and time delay) and storybook reading techniques while reading books with her child with ASD. Using a multiple-baseline design across naturalistic teaching strategies, the following three study components were examined, (a) the parent’s use of book reading techniques, (b) the parent’s rate and fidelity (quality) in using of the three naturalistic teaching strategies, and (c) perceptions of the parent and other adults (college students and practitioners) about the social validity of the goals, procedures, and outcomes of the intervention. The entire intervention period lasted 10 weeks. After training and coaching, the parent used the modeling, mand-model, and time delay strategies with higher rates and higher fidelity. The child initiated more communicative acts upon the parent’s use of time delay and increased her number of single-word responses. The parent believed that the intervention strategies supported her and led to improvements in her child’s communication skills. Adult raters evaluated intervention video clips significantly higher than baseline video clips on aspects of parent-child social engagement, child language, and the parent’s ability to facilitate the child’s communication

Intentional v. Incidental Codes

In this video, you will see a mother using communication teaching strategies with her child as a demonstration of a distinction between the operational definitions of "intentional" versus "incidental" strategy use, as described in the companion article, "Understanding Communication Intervention for Young Children with Autism and Their Parents: Mixing Behavioral and Social Validity Findings."This project was supported in part by funding from the Office of Special Education Programs, U.S. Department of Education: Project LEAD (H325D100062)Ope

Move Together, Communicate Together: Supporting Preschoolers’ Communication Skills Through Physical Activities

© 2019, Springer Nature B.V. During the preschool years, children develop several inter-related skills including motor skills and communication skills. In this article, we highlight several communication teaching strategies and describe how practitioners can promote communication skills of preschoolers with disabilities by providing them with multiple opportunities to practice these skills during motor activities. The following strategies are described: arrange the physical environment, model motor vocabulary, ask motor related questions, use a fill in the blank strategy, and reinforce/prompt child communication. The use of these strategies during large and small group motor activities is illustrated with vignettes. We present strategies for creating an engaging environment and providing meaningful opportunities so that children can learn important communication skills while also developing critical motor skills