Parent-Implemented Functional Communication Training for Children with Developmental Disabilities

Children with developmental disabilities (DD) are at an increased risk of engaging in chronic challenging behaviors that can affect both the child and the child’s caregivers. Functional communication training (FCT) is a well-researched method for reducing challenging behavior and increasing communication in children with DD. Training parents in FCT may result in additional benefits, such as increased access to intervention and less reliance on professionals. This dissertation contains two studies related to parent-implemented FCT. The first study is a systematic review and evaluation of the quality of published research in parent-implemented FCT. The systematic review yielded 38 studies related to parent-implemented FCT, many of which were conducted with young children with developmental disabilities. The included studies met many of the field’s current single-case research standards, but there is a need for more research with high-quality experimental designs. Strengths of the current literature base and directions for future research are discussed. The purpose of the second study was to evaluate the efficacy of parent training in improving parents’ implementation of FCT. The study included three young children with developmental delays ranging in age from 25 to 33 months old. Two mothers and one father participated as the implementer throughout the study. A multiple-baseline across parent-child dyads design was used to evaluate the impact of parent training on FCT implementation fidelity. Parent training consisted of instructions and performance feedback. Implementation fidelity in the trained routine and in a generalization routine was assessed during the baseline phase and a performance feedback phase. A self-monitoring phase was added if the data indicated the parent did not generalize accurate implementation to the novel routine. Instructions and performance feedback increased accurate implementation in the training routine for all three parents. One of the parents implemented the intervention accurately in the generalization routine without any additional training. One parent participant required self-monitoring training to implement the intervention accurately in the generalization routine. The third parent-child dyad dropped out of the study before the completion of the generalization assessment. Child challenging behavior decreased and child communication increased following accurate implementation of the intervention

High-Tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Individuals with IDD and Complex Communication Needs: A Meta-Analysis (Variable Codes)

The attachment includes the operational definitions of the variable codes for the following article: The use of mobile technology is ubiquitous and is rapidly increasing in novel use. The use of mobile apps as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is rapidly expanding, both in the community and in the research literature. This article reports the social-communication outcome results of a meta-analysis of single-case experimental research on the use of high-tech AAC with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. Following inclusion determination, including excluding studies with poor design quality, raw data from 24 publications were extracted and included 89 A-B phase contrasts. Tau-U nonparametric, non-overlap effect size was used to aggregate the results across all studies for an omnibus and moderator analyses. Kendall’s S was calculated for confidence intervals, p-values, and standard error. The omnibus analysis indicated overall low to moderate positive effects on social-communication outcomes for high-tech AAC with people with IDD.The contents of this manuscript were developed under the Preparation of Leaders in Autism Across the Lifespan grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (Grant No. H325D110046)

High-Tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Individuals with IDD and Complex Communication Needs: A Meta-Analysis (Search Terms)

Search Terms used in this manuscriptSearch Terms attached for the following paper: The use of mobile technology is ubiquitous and is rapidly increasing in novel use. The use of mobile apps as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is rapidly expanding, both in the community and in the research literature. This article reports the social-communication outcome results of a meta-analysis of single-case experimental research on the use of high-tech AAC with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. Following inclusion determination, including excluding studies with poor design quality, raw data from 24 publications were extracted and included 89 A-B phase contrasts. Tau-U nonparametric, non-overlap effect size was used to aggregate the results across all studies for an omnibus and moderator analyses. Kendall’s S was calculated for confidence intervals, p-values, and standard error. The omnibus analysis indicated overall low to moderate positive effects on social-communication outcomes for high-tech AAC with people with IDD.The contents of this manuscript were developed under the Preparation of Leaders in Autism Across the Lifespan grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (Grant No. H325D110046)

High-Tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication for Individuals with IDD and Complex Communication Needs: A Meta-Analysis (Design Quality Review)

The attachment includes the description of the design quality review for the following paper: The use of mobile technology is ubiquitous and is rapidly increasing in novel use. The use of mobile apps as augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is rapidly expanding, both in the community and in the research literature. This article reports the social-communication outcome results of a meta-analysis of single-case experimental research on the use of high-tech AAC with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder. Following inclusion determination, including excluding studies with poor design quality, raw data from 24 publications were extracted and included 89 A-B phase contrasts. Tau-U nonparametric, non-overlap effect size was used to aggregate the results across all studies for an omnibus and moderator analyses. Kendall’s S was calculated for confidence intervals, p-values, and standard error. The omnibus analysis indicated overall low to moderate positive effects on social-communication outcomes for high-tech AAC with people with IDD.The contents of this manuscript were developed under the Preparation of Leaders in Autism Across the Lifespan grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (Grant No. H325D110046)

A Meta-Analytic Review of Family-Implemented Social and Communication Interventions for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities: References Included in the Analyses

This study presents a meta-analysis of single-case experimental research on family-implemented interventions for improving the social and other communicative behaviors of individuals with developmental disabilities (DD). A total of 40 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The Tau-U effect size with the Kruskal-Wallis and the Dunn post-hoc tests were calculated to analyze the following variables: age, communication and language characteristic, intervention type, and dependent variable. Overall, the results indicate that family-implemented interventions have a moderate effect on the social and other communicative behaviors of individuals with DD. Analyses for age wielded statistically significant findings for preschool-aged individuals compared to adolescents- and adult-aged individuals. Small to moderate effect sizes were noted across categories for communication and language characteristic, intervention type, and dependent variable. Limitations and implications for future research and for practitioners are discussed. Note: This document contains the references for the abovementioned articl