Educating Children with Autism (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 47-65
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From page 47... ...
This change highlights the recognition that children with autistic spectrum disorders not only have difficulty in the acquisition of speech and language, but also have difficulty understanding and using nonverbal behavior in communicative interactions. The level of communicative competence attained by individuals with autism has been found to be an important predictor of outcome (Garfin and Lord, 1986; McEachin et al., 1993~.
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From page 48... ...
Joint attention reflects difficulty coordinating attention between people and objects and is evident by deficits in orienting and attending to a social partner; shifting gaze between people and objects; sharing affect or emotional states with another person; following the gaze and point of another person; and being able to draw another persons' attention to objects or events for the purpose of snaring experiences. Symbol use reflects difficulty learning conventional or shared meanings for symbols and is evident in deficits in using conventional gestures; learning conventional meanings for words; and using objects functionally and in symbolic play.
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From page 49... ...
, challenging behaviors such as aggression, tantrums, and self-injury are often used to procure attention, to escape from a task or situation, to protest against changes of schedule and routine, or to regulate interactions in a predictable manner. Carr and Durand (1985)
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From page 50... ...
Using similar strategies for gathering communication samples, both researchers reported a similar profile in children with autistic spectrum disorders, characterized by a distinct constellation of strengths and weaknesses in parameters of communication. Specifically, the children with autistic spectrum disorders showed comparable use of communication to request and protest, but significantly less use of gaze shifts, shared positive affect, conventional gestures, and communication for joint attention.
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From page 51... ...
The functional emphasis focuses on goals that affect a child's access to choices of activities in which to participate, opportunities for social interaction, and community settings (Brown et al., 1979; Homer et al., 1990~. Contemporary behavioral programs emphasize teaching communication skills so that greater access is provided to a variety of people, places and events, thereby enhancing the quality of life of children with autistic spectrum disorders.
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From page 52... ...
Several communication abilities have been identified as important to assess for children with autism: use of eye gaze and facial expression for social referencing and to regulate interaction, range of communicative functions expressed, rate of communicating, use of gestures and vocal/verbalizations, use of repair strategies, understanding of conventional meanings, and ability to engage in conversation (Schuler et al., 1997; Wetherby et al., 2000~. Wetherby et al.
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From page 53... ...
These approaches use systematic teaching trials that have several common active ingredients: they are initiated by the child and focus on the child's interest; they are interspersed and embedded in the natural environment; and they use natural reinforcers that follow what the child is trying to communicate. Only a few studies, all using single-subject designs, have compared traditional discrete trial with naturalistic behavioral approaches.
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From page 54... ...
Teaching Communication Research that has documented changes in the communication skills of children with autism falls into three major categories organized by the goal of the intervention: functional communication training to replace challenging behavior, increases in initiation of verbal and nonverbal communication, and increases in the core communication skills.
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From page 55... ...
and require a combination of developmental and naturalistic teaching methods. In spite of the large number of studies documenting the core communication deficits associated with autism (i.e., joint attention and symbolic
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From page 56... ...
Other studies that have documented improvement in these core communication deficits have demonstrated increases in gaze to regulate interaction, shared positive affect, use of conventional gestures, and joint attention. Lewy and Dawson (1992)
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From page 57... ...
The methods and tools of AAC interventions, properly applied, are tailored to unique strengths and needs of individuals with autism. AAC includes the use of visual language systems, such as visual icons or words representing specific communicative units, which capitalize on strong visual processing of many children with autism.
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From page 58... ...
Signing is not generally an entry point into a complex, flexible system. The use of visual symbol systems has received attention recently because of the limited outcomes with signs and the visual strengths of many children with autistic spectrum disorders.
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From page 59... ...
on 11 children with autistic spectrum disorders who attended an integrated preschool. These children required an average of 11 months to exchange "I want + symbol" sentence strips with adults and 14 months with peers.
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From page 60... ...
In addition to using visual symbols for communicative output, AAC interventions have also used visual symbols to augment communicative input from others. Recently, this equally important "input" aspect of AAC is being recognized, and several case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of augmented input for young children with autism (Hodgdon, 1995; Quill, 1997; Peterson et al., 1995~.
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From page 61... ...
Aided language stimulation is an interactive, generative use of visual symbols, using a developmental, rather than a behavioral approach. The natural aided language approach, an analog of aided language stimulation, uses visual language as a second language in the child's environment (Cafiero, 1995; 2000~.
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From page 62... ...
The development of keyboarding skills, not simply for literacy learning, but for communicative output, is providing considerable promise in the field of autism. Past research that invalidates FC should not preempt research and practice in keyboarding, literacy learning, and AAC as a communication modality for children with autistic spectrum disorders.
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From page 63... ...
The effectiveness of communication and language intervention programs needs to be documented relative to these core deficits and relative to the target goal of communicative competence in natural language learning environments, with the emphasis on acquisition of functional skills that support successful communicative interactions. The efficacy of communication intervention should be determined by meaningful outcome measures in social communicative parameters, not just
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From page 64... ...
Since learning in natural environments is the most desirable approach to working with children with autistic spectrum disorders, and spontaneous, initiated language and communicative behavior is of greater value than cue-dependent responding, spontaneity and generalization are particularly important research issues. The application of functional communication training to the manage
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From page 65... ...
More rigorous research in developmental interventions and interventions that combine or compare naturalistic teaching, focused behavioral and developmental approaches for different aspects of communication and language would contribute valuable perspectives and could contribute ideas for innovative educational techniques. For example, Greenspan and Wieder (1997)
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