The effect of direct instruction and writer’s workshop on the early writing skills of children who use augmentative and alternative communication

A single subject multiple probe across subjects research design was used to evaluate a writing instructional program for children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Specifically, the effect of instruction on the selection of initial letters of words by 3 children with developmental disabilities who used AAC was evaluated. The writing instructional program comprised direct instruction in letter-sound correspondence and selection of initial letters of words, and a writing workshop-type task to provide instruction in literacy activities. Two of the 3 children were successful in the acquisition of the target skill, maintained use of the skill at least 1 month following instruction, and demonstrated some generalization of the skill to less structured tasks. The third child required a simplified instructional program to accommodate transient episodes of hemiplegia and to increase his time on task. The results of the study suggest that an instructional program that combines a direct instruction approach and a writing workshop-type activity may facilitate the development and application of phonemic awareness skills with children who use AAC

Peer interaction for children with CCN and ASD (Therrien & Light, 2018)

<div><b>Purpose:</b> This study investigates the impact of a multicomponent intervention on the social communication and engagement of preschool children with complex communication needs (CCN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and peers without disabilities.</div><div><b>Method: </b>Five dyads of children participated in this research. A multiple probe design across dyads was used to evaluate the effects of intervention on the frequency of communicative turns expressed by children with CCN and ASD in interactions with peers. Frequency of peer turns, percentage of turns taken by peers, and joint engagement were investigated to assess the quality of the interaction. The intervention included (a) provision of a communication app on an Apple iPad Air 2 and (b) dyadic turn-taking training.</div><div><b>Results: </b>Four of the 5 participants with CCN completed training and increased independent communicative turn-taking with peers. The 5th participant showed increased turn-taking during training but little change in independent turn-taking. All peers took more turns in intervention than in baseline, with no negative impact on the turn balance between participants. Average joint engagement increased for all dyads, although session-to-session variability was high.</div><div><b>Conclusion:</b> The results from this study provide support for the use of this intervention to promote peer interaction for children with CCN and ASD.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Supplemental Material S1.</b> Training session script. </div><div><br></div><div>Therrien, M. C. S., & Light, J. C. (2018). Promoting peer interaction for preschool children with complex communication needs and autism spectrum disorder. <i>American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 27, </i>207–221<i>. </i>https://doi.org/10.1044/2017_AJSLP-17-0104</div