Teaching Advanced Manding Skills to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Using Systematic Instruction, Speech-Generating Devices, and Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behaviour

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is characterized by marked impairments in social and communication skills, as well as restricted and/or repetitive patterns of behaviour or interests. Approximately 25-30% of children with ASD do not develop speech. As a result they may require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions. However, most interventions discussed in our present body of research focuses on basic communication skills like requesting. As such, it is important to investigate systematic teaching strategies for more complex requesting (i.e., manding) skills like requesting actions or requesting information. This research aims to extend previous manding literature by investigating effective methods for teaching advanced manding skills to children with ASD who communicate using an SGD. Three empirical intervention studies that a presented in this thesis evaluated the use of behaviour chain interruption strategy (BCIS) and systematic teaching procedures based on the principals of applied behaviour analysis (ABA), to teach advanced manding skills (i.e., manding for actions, manding for “where” questions, and persistence of “where questions”) for individuals with ASD who use speech-generating devices (SGD). Single-case research methodology was used via variations of the multiple baseline design (i.e., multiple probe multiple baseline design across participants and multiple probe multiple baseline across participants and behaviour chains) to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions. A total of three participants (2 boys and 1 girl, ages 13, 10, and 5) participated in the interventions that were designed to teach the targeted mand. Results of each study yielded positive results, in that each participant acquired the targeted skill. Generalisation (i.e., across stimuli, over time, and across communication partners) results were mixed, however with additional teaching with the use of systematic instruction they were also acquired. Although these results are preliminary, they indicated that advanced manding skills should be taught to children with ASD who communicate using SGDs and can be acquired with the use of systematic instruction

Voices from the past: Comparing the rapid prompting method and facilitated communication

AbstractObjective: This article briefly reviews the history and damage caused by facilitated communication (FC) and highlights theparallels between FC and the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM).Background: FC involves a therapist (or facilitator) supporting the hand of a person with autism while a message is typed ona letter board. FC is widely acknowledged to be a pseudoscientific, unsafe, and unethical treatment for people with autism.RPM is a more recent intervention for people with autism that involves the facilitator holding and moving the letter boardwhile the individual with autism moves their own hand. Those who espouse the perceived benefits of FC and RPM makestrikingly similar claims of hidden intelligence and extraordinary communication abilities in people with autism followingtreatment.Conclusion: Clients, proponents, and practitioners of RPM should demand scientific validation of RPM in order to ensurethe safety of people with disabilities that are involved with RPM

Using a textual prompt to teach multiword requesting to two children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by social and communication impairment, but some children appear to have relative strength in areas such as reading printed words. The present study involved two children with limited expressive communication skills, but relatively stronger reading ability. Based on this existing strength, we evaluated a textual prompting procedure for teaching the children to produce multiword spoken requests. The effect of providing textual prompts on production of multiword requests was evaluated in an ABAB design. The results showed that multiword requests increased when textual prompts were provided and decreased when the prompts were removed. In subsequent phases, the textual prompts were successfully faded by gradually making the printed text lighter and lighter until eventually the prompts were eliminated altogether. We conclude that identification of children's strengths may assist in identifying effective prompting procedures that could then be used in teaching functional communication skills

How Might Indices of Happiness Inform Early Intervention Research and Decision Making?

Abstract: Objectives: The child-caregiver relationship is the foundation for which intervention occurs. Therefore, the acceptability of the intervention should be considered for both parties. Indices of happiness (IOH) have shown to be effective in assessing social validity and providing insight to improving interventions to promote better quality of life. However, to date, there is limited attention to the integration of IOH in very early caregiver-led intervention. The purpose of this study is to explore how researchers and clinicians might collect direct data on IOH to assess the acceptability of an intervention. Methods: Participants in this study included 4 children, ages 19–26 months old, identified as “at-risk” for autism, and their caregivers. Caregiver-led intervention focused on pairing, play, and following the child’s lead. IOH data was collected on both child and caregiver using 10 s partial-interval recording. Data analysis from the intervention is presented using three different approaches: pre/post-analysis on an individual level, pre/post-analysis on a dyad level, and during intervention as a primary dependent variable. Results: Variations were seen in levels of happiness, both on an individual level and dyad level. IOH for caregivers increased in relation as their fidelity increased but child IOH decreased as they acquired the targeted skill. Conclusions: Direct observation of happiness data is likely to provide valuable insight into participants perception of an intervention. And retrospective analysis may be a valuable tool for reflection and guidance and planning of future interventions

Teaching Functional Communication to Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders

This book chapter focuses on functional communication, including procedures for establishing speech and the use of one or more augmentative and alternative communication modes

Teaching two children with autism spectrum disorder to use a speech-generating device

Many children with autism spectrum disorder have minimal speech and are therefore candidates for learning to use speech-generating devices. Previous research has mainly focused on teaching children to use speech-generating devices to request preferred objects. While this is an important communication function, it would seem equally important for children to learn other communication functions, such as learning to reject non-preferred objects and learning to request breaks from non-preferred activities. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate procedures for teaching two children with autism spectrum disorder to use speech-generating devices for these different communication functions. The first child was taught to request preferred foods and reject non-preferred foods. The second child was taught to request a preferred toy and request a break from learning activities. Intervention involved creating opportunities for communication and then applying time delay, graduated guidance, and contingent reinforcement procedures. With intervention, both children learned to use the speech-generating device to perform their two respective communication responses. The results suggest a promising approach for teaching multifunction use of speech-generating devices to children with autism spectrum disorder

Three children with autism spectrum disorder learn to perform a three-step communication sequence using an iPad®-based speech-generating device

Background Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have limited or absent speech and might therefore benefit from learning to use a speech-generating device (SGD). The purpose of this study was to evaluate a procedure aimed at teaching three children with ASD to use an iPad®-based SGD to make a general request for access to toys, then make a specific request for one of two toys, and then communicate a thank-you response after receiving the requested toy. Method A multiple-baseline across participants design was used to determine whether systematic instruction involving least-to-most-prompting, time delay, error correction, and reinforcement was effective in teaching the three children to engage in this requesting and social communication sequence. Generalization and follow-up probes were conducted for two of the three participants. Results With intervention, all three children showed improvement in performing the communication sequence. This improvement was maintained with an unfamiliar communication partner and during the follow-up sessions. Conclusion With systematic instruction, children with ASD and severe communication impairment can learn to use an iPad-based SGD to complete multi-step communication sequences that involve requesting and social communication functions