This pilot study investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of a home-based parent training and coaching program on the use of naturalistic and visual teaching strategies by parents of children (aged 2-5 years) with Down syndrome to promote and enhance these children's social-pragmatic communication skills. Five parent…

Although electronic tools such as handheld computers have become increasingly common throughout society, implementation of such tools to improve skills in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities has lagged in the professional literature. However, the use of visual scripts for individuals with disabilities, particularly those…

The current trend analysis was conducted to empirically document the characteristics of individuals with autism who participated in intervention research published between 1995 and 2009 in three journals ("Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis," "Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders," and "Focus on Autism and Other…

The use of video modeling (VM) procedures in conjunction with the picture exchange communication system (PECS) to increase independent communicative initiations in preschool-age students was evaluated in this study. The four participants were 3-year-old children with limited communication skills prior to the intervention. Two of the students had…

A milieu teaching sequence was used to train photograph exchange as a method of requesting to a 7-year-old boy with autism. A multiple baseline design across four items (ball, puzzle, books, bubbles) was used to identify a functional relation between requesting and the milieu teaching sequence. Although performance during intervention was…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a modified system of least intrusive prompts on text-dependent listening comprehension for four middle-school-aged students with intellectual disability and autism during read-alouds of adapted grade-level biographies. A system of least intrusive prompts was modified by inserting a rule…

Discrimination of question-asking is a critical conversational skill with considerable practical importance. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) must be taught this skill to become competent communicators and function in everyday communicative situations. In previous question-asking literature, researchers have focused on teaching…

Rett Syndrome (RS) is an X-linked, neurodevelopmental disorder that occurs primarily in females and causes significant impairment in cognition, motor control, and communication. Teachers and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) encounter girls with RS with increasing frequency as awareness of the disorder increases, yet the literature on clinical…

This study assessed the repair strategies used by verbal students with autism (N = 12) when faced with verbal requests for clarification, gestural requests, not attending and not responding, and wrong responses. Data were collected in request contexts contrived by the communication partner during free play. The results indicated that most of the…

Video instruction as an intervention for teaching skills to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is gaining increased momentum in applied settings.Video instruction, comprised of video modeling, video self-modeling, and point-of-view video, has been utilized in various fields of study with various populations and target behaviors.…

Considerations for college-based programming for transition-age students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are addressed in this article, with particular attention to social communication supports necessary to facilitate student success. An overview of current literature related to college-based programming and support for students with ASD in…

As speech-language pathologists who provide consultative services to children and adults with significant disabilities, these authors often review intervention plans that include objects in choice making or scheduling. Examples include offering individuals a choice of two objects while telling them to "Show me what you want," or prompting…

Three children diagnosed within the autism spectrum between the ages of 5 and 7 years at different stages of communication development were supplied with speech-generating devices (SGDs) in their homes. The parents were taught to introduce the SGDs into home routines and the effects were evaluated naturalistically. Videotapes recorded by the…

A multiple-probe design was used to evaluate the effects of training on three children functioning on the higher end of the autism spectrum who were individually taught to answer each of three types of inferential "why" questions: (a) questions based on a three-card picture sequence, (b) questions based on a verbally presented brief story, and (c)…

The purpose of this study was to extend the research on functional communication training by examining the use of a speech-generating device (SGD) for a 7-year-old child with autism and no spoken language who demonstrated inappropriate vocalizations that served multiple functions. An analog functional analysis was used to determine the function of…