Since Leo Kanner’s initial description of autism in 1943, research has made great strides in developing scientifically based interventions to treat autism. There are many treatments for autism, however, children continue to face communication impairments, where they struggle with speech and language development (Simpson, 2005). Although there are many effective interventions, studies suggest that when treatment is intensive, continuous and targeted directed towards the child, better outcomes are generated, in contrast to an eclectic model, where a variety of approaches are implemented (Howard, 2005). The implications of this line of research are great, as they suggest that when implementing interventions, careful considerations must be taken in assuring that children are receiving quality intervention, rather than a high quantity of interventions. In light of these results, research suggests that using Pivotal Response Treatment with embedded social interactions in motivational components, question asking, and orienting cues are effective approaches in increasing verbal acquisition in children with autism.
Research suggests that implementing motivational components of Pivotal Response Treatment is effective in increasing verbal acquisition in children with autism. PRT is an approach that is implemented in a child’s daily routines and targets pivotal areas of behavior that lead to collateral gains in other behaviors—including verbal acquisition (Koegel, Robinson, & Koegel, 2009). The motivational components effective in verbal acquisition are child choice, task variation, reinforcing attempts, the interspersal of maintenance and acquisition tasks, and providing natural reinforcers. (Lynn K. Koegel et al., 2009). As we can see, th...
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Koegel, L. K., Koegel, Robinson, S., Koegel R. L. (2009). Empirically Supported Intervention Practices For Autism Spectrum Disorders in School and Community Settings: Issues and Practices. Handbook of Postive Behavior Support. 149-176.
Koegel, R. L., Koegel, L. K., Vernon, W. T. (2009). Improving Social Initiations in Young Children with Autism Using Reinforcers with Embedded Social Interactions. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 39 (9). 1240-1251
Koegel, R. L., Shirotova L., Koegel L. K. (2009). Brief Report: Using Individualized Orienting Cues to Facilitate First-Word Acquisition in Non-Responders with Autism. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 39 (11). 1587-1592.
Simpson, L., Richard. (2005). Autism Spectrum Disorders: Interventions and Treatments for Children and Youth. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Development of social skills is very important for children that are diagnosed with autism because of ...
CAS is a very specific disorder with a very specific profile, and is thus different from “typical” speech sound disorders. The hypothesis of CAS in ASD (the CAS-ASD hypothesis) is that “CAS contributes to the inappropriate speech, prosody, and/or voice features reported in some children and adults with verbal ASD” (Shriberg et al., 2011, p. 405). For this to be true, the speech, prosody, and voice findings in children with ASD must not only be unusual or disordered, but they must also fit into the particular profile of CAS.
Incidental teaching focuses on child-initiated interactions. (Hall, 2013) Incidental teaching is used to increase skills of individuals with autism spectrum disorders. (Hall, 2013) A study done by Hart and Risley (1975) looked at the incidental teaching process used at the preschool age to aide in teaching language. Incidental teaching has been the most frequent strategy that has been used to teach language. When using incidental teaching a child’s request may be verbal or nonverbal. Examples include reaching for an object that is out of one’s reach, requesting food or a toy or calling an adult’s name. There is a series of decisions that an adult can use to respond to the child’s request. These choices include: if the occasion should be used for incidental teaching: if so then a choice regarding the language behavior that is obtained from the child, and then a choice has to be made concerning the cue that will be used to initiate instruction, the cur could be focus of attention by itself, or in addition to the focused attention a verbal cue as well. If the individual does not respond to the cue, then a choice concerning the degree of prompt to be used, the “fullest degree: a request for imitation; medium degree: a request for partial imitation, or minimal degree: a request for the terminal language behavior.” (Hart & Risley, 1975) This study was performed on boys and girls between the ages of four years old to five years old. The baseline procedures ensured that the children had a variety of vocabulary for use in sentences. The sentences that they were taught was “I want x so I can y.” The second step of the procedure was the use of incidental teaching of compound sentences directed to teachers. After thirty-six days of school, the incidental teaching began to occur when the children needed assistance in trying to get different preschool materials.
... cited in Dorey et al., 2009). This large percentage indicates that extinction of these reinforcers could lead to a decrease in these behaviors. An earlier study supported this claim by conducting research with children with Autism engaging in SIBs. Hanley, Pizaaz, Fisher, and Maglieri (2005) developed a study with a young boy with Autism who engaged in SIBs. After a functional assessment, the researchers found that his behaviors had been maintained by tangibles and attention. Whenever the subject began producing maladaptive behaviors, his mother would present a toy and verbal attention in order to elicit calmness. Similar to the research completed by Dorey et al. (2009), the researchers extinguished this reinforcement and rewarded alternative positive behaviors. When this was carried out, the SIBs decreased and more acceptable forms of communication were utilized.
Discrete trial teaching is a teaching method classified by the fast pace delivery and shortened period of instructions (5-20 seconds) and incorporation of prompts, which is also referred to as errorless learning. DTT is under the umbrella of ABA and it is a method used to teach new skills and behaviors to children on the autism spectrum. As well DTT uses a unique style of teaching, errorless learning. Which unlike the normal teaching of trial and error. This style of teaching has been shown to be very effective with children with autism. Furthermore, Applied Behavior analysis seeks to address the antecedent and consequences of behavior ( Hunter class). There is over 60 years of research to support the effectiveness of ABA to address the behavior or children with development disabilities. Furthermore we discussed in lecture that punishment and reinforcement are the driving principle behind changing behavior. DTT uses carefully timed reinforcement to support newly learned behaviors and skills. This research indicates that the use of ABA leads to very effective results in children. (Hunter, 2015)
“The Benefits of Skinner's Analysis of Verbal Behavior for Children with Autism” Behav Modif., by Sundberg, ML, and Michael J., published in 2001, summarized Oct 19, 2006
Early intervention is effective in treating autism spectrum disorder in many ways. One important way it has been proven effective by research is by increasing a child’s cognitive skills. When a child is first diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, they will likely be diagnosed as having a cognitive delay. Research shows that early invention services, such as applied behavior analysis, occupational, and speech therapy has helped increase IQ scores in children with autism spectrum disorder. In one study, children who received up to twenty hours a week of early intervention services had an average rise in IQ points of 17.6 (Solis, 2010). This increase in cognitive skills benefited children in the classroom setting. After receiving extensive early intervention treatment, children typically performed better on standardized testing. With an increase in cognitive skills and better achievement on standardized testing, children were able to be placed in less restrictive classroom settings (Smith, 199...
Children with autism have multiple characteristic impairments in their social interaction skills. This results from the lack of “Theory of Mind” in autistic individuals. Autistic children have difficulty interpreting what another person may be thinking or feeling. Social impairments may cause the child to act inappropriately in social interactions and prevent the children from truly taking part in interactions. The children have difficulty recognizing social cues and responding to cues. Autistic children have a hard time forming relationships as a result of these impairments. Social stories, Applied Behavior Analysis, and Pivotal Response Training are three therapy techniques that help children with autism learn appropriate social behavior. Social stories allow the children to practice the situation in a lower stress environment. Applied Behavior Analysis utilizes positive reinforce to teach desired skills. Pivotal Response Training allows the child to learn social skills while in a natural play environment. Learning social skills through these techniques enable the children to have more meaningful relationships and engage more in their community.
Stephanie Lindsey the author of the article Autism and Education addresses some serious issues in the education system between the special needs students and the highly gifted students. Stephanie writes the article based off her children and how they are treated in school. Her son has autism, which affects his capability to learn, speak, and to train himself when it comes to bathroom use. Also never being alone in school due to him having a personal aid alongside him with special classes he is treaded with a different type of education. Her daughter on the other hand tests in the 95th percentile nationwide on standardized testing. She’s twelve and her capability of progressing information and taking complex ideas apart and putting them back together to form new thoughts is like no normal twelve year old. She reads entire novels, solves Sudoku puzzles, and also participates in her school
Take a second and imagine a life without social skills. You wouldn’t have the ability to tell when someone is being sarcastic or funny. Mean or nice. Simple things like this is out of your grasp for reasons you will never understand or be able to change.
Luiselli, James K. "Verbal Language and Communication." Teaching and Behavior Support for Children and Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Practitioner's Guide. New York: Oxford UP, 2011. Print.
Autism is a problem that people have with communicating. It can affect many contrasting types of people in divergent ways and there is not yet a complete cure for it. People need to know about this disability and what people can do with people who have it.
When students miss out on social opportunities in a typical classroom they are missing out on opportunities for academic enrichment (collaborating on projects, working in pairs, participating in class discussions) as well as personal and social enrichment (making new friends, playing games). The long-term goals are to continue building relationships over time and having greater social competence. “The earlier we can intervene with these children and teach the necessary social skills, the more likely it is that they will become adjusted and socially competent young adults and adults” (Stephens 2). Adolescence is a critical time in society; it is a developmental period where children have an experimental foundation for developing a variety of social skills. Therefore, if we implement these skills at an early age, these children will be able to apply them to their everyday lives and communicate with others more
Dempsey, I. & Foreman, P. ( 2001). A Review of Educational Approaches for Individuals with Autism. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 48 (1), 105-116.
Influence plays a major role in their overall development. Promoting social and emotional skills and intervening in cases of difficulty very early in life will be effective for promoting positive experiences among children. Peers play important roles in children’s lives at much earlier points in development. Experiences in the beginning of life have implications for children’s acceptance by their classmates in nursery school and the later school years. When I was in the fourth grade a really wanted to be accepted by people around me. I would switch my friends a lot looking for people’s approval. For example, if I was friends with a girl on Tuesday but I heard someone say she was weird I would abandon the friendship in order to gain peer approval. Early friendships and positive relations with peer groups appear to protect children against later psychological