Research Study Closure

The results of my study were very interesting. The results showed that Sign Language leads to verbal language acquisition faster than the Picture Exchange Communication System. However, I don't find these results to be 100% valid as I only had two participants assigned to Sign Language and one participant assigned to the Picture Exchange Communication System. Therefore, having only three participants leaned the results in favor of the two participants using Sign Language.

Overall, I enjoyed the research process and learned a lot from executing the interventions and data collection. I learned that having more than three participants is crucial in order to obtain accurate and valid data. I also learned that when doing research with children under the age of three, you need to account for the many uncontrollable factors such as nap times, illness, family vacations, and families forgetting appointment times. If I were to do another study in the future, I would take this lessons into account and create a study with more participants, extend the studies duration, and get more professionals to assist with execution of interventions with the participants in order to obtain more reliable and valid results.

Increasing Vocal Responses

I chose this article because I wanted to take a deeper look into Sign Language being used as a language intervention. This study focused on utilizing manual sign mand training when used with a prompt delay procedure. Prompt delay procedures consist of offering the desired item to the child and waiting three to five seconds before prompting the child to sign or say the name of the item.

The results of the study found that using prompt delays followed by vocal prompt paired with sign language increases the likelihood of vocal responses. The study also stated that these procedures could be utilized without the use of manual sign language, however they found that using sign language initially improves the use of functional language communication.

References:

Carbone, V. J., Sweeney-Kerwin, E. J., Attanasio, V., & Kasper, T. (2010). Increasing vocal responses 
           of children with autism and developmental disabilities using manual sign mand training and 

           prompt delay. Journal of Applied Behavioral Analysis, 43(4), 705-709.

Sign Language Encourages More Social Gesturing

It has been difficult finding articles that have supported sign language as a language intervention method. I came across this article and found it to be pretty insightful in regards to sign language and autism. The article focuses on imitation and gestural ability in children with autism.

The study utilized the Reciprocal Imitation Training (RIT) which has been shown to increase imitation skills. RIT uses sign language but focuses on strengthening gesturing and imitation skills first. RIT has to be implemented in a highly structured setting focusing on discrete trial training, utilizing shaping and reinforcement procedures. Ingersoll, Lewis, and Kroman (2006, pg. 1447) found that "intervention which target the imitation of gestures may have a substantial effect on both development of spontaneous gesture use and, subsequently, language use in general."

Participants in the study were five boys with an autism diagnosis ranging in from 34 to 49 months with limited to no gesturing or imitation skills. All intervention sessions were conducted in a one-to-one setting in a treatment room. The results of the study found that all participants increased their gestural and imitation skills and many of them showed improvement in social-communication skills.

After reading this article, I have learned the importance of establishing imitation and gestural skills prior to implementing a full language intervention.

Reference:

Ingersoll, B., Lewis, E., & Kroman, E. (2007). Teaching the Imitation and Spontaneous Use of Descriptive Gestures in 

       Young Children with Autism Using a Naturalistic Behavioral Intervention. Journal Of Autism & Developmental 

        Disorders, 37(8), 1446-1456. doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0221-z

Permalink to the article: https://ezproxy.western.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=26161837&site=eds-live

Research Update

Well, I am a little over four weeks into my research study and I have already experienced several obstacles. The first obstacle that I came across was not being able to find the four to six participants that I was hoping for. Finding participants on an island is one thing, finding participants that are between one and three years old with an autism diagnosis and whose parents are willing to let their child participate in a research study is a entirely different feat. By the end of the first week of the study I only had two participants and by the end of the second week I was contacted by a third. So I have had to settle for only three participants (two assigned to Sign Language and one to PECS).

The second obstacle that I have run into is that when working with toddlers you have to prepare for cancelations due to illness, nap times, and parents forgetting about your appointment time. With a full time job and going to school full time, the cancelation of an appointment is extremely difficult to reschedule. I have had to plan WAY ahead in order to ensure that if there is a cancelation that I am able to create an opening to reschedule.

Even with these obstacles, I am finding this research study to be an eye-opening experience. I am already seeing a difference in the chosen interventions and which intervention is showing more language acquisition!

Patterns of Verbal Language

I chose to read this article, because I was curious to learn about how the researchers found the verbal language growth over the course of a 9 year period in three different groups of child (autism, Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified and no disability). The researchers noted that past research studies and experience has shown that it is vital that children display and respond to joint-attention in social situations in order to develop social and verbal abilities. Anderson et al. (2007) states, "Of seven longitudinal studies, all found a positive association between one or more aspects of joint attention (alternating gaze, pointing, showing) and subsequent verbal skills regardless of the measures used (e.g., Charman et al., 2003; Mundy, Sigman, & Kasari, 1990; Sigman & McGovern, 2005)." The study goes further to explain that children with autism versus children with PDD-NOS were more likely to have verbal language in the future. The basis of the research focused on the language predictors displayed in two year old children and what the same children verbal language outcomes were at age 9.

The results of the study found that the language outcomes of the children with autism had a greater variance then that of the other two groups (PDD-NOS and no disability). The study also found that when the children with autism had early interventions as well as caregiver support and practice of interventions when treatment professionals were not around had a higher language outcome by age 9. Learning this information solidifies my belief in the effectiveness of early intervention practices and the basis of my research study.

References: 

Anderson, D. K., Lord, C., Risi, S., DiLavore, P. S., Shulman, C., Thurm, A., . . . Pickles, A. (2007). Patterns of growth in verbal abilities among children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 75(4), 594-604. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.75.4.594

Language and Communication in Autism

I chose to read this article because it is important for me to know and understand the language development milestones for typically developing children in order to have a clearer comparison of the children with autism that I am working with. The article discusses five language development areas (semantics, syntax, phonology, pragmatics, and play) and the monthly milestones for each. The authors inform the reader that around age two is when parents begin to notice their child's lack of language use, which leads them to usually find that their child has a diagnosis of autism. The article is broken down into two parts... Part 1 refers to the language milestones in typically developing children, while Part 2 discusses discrepancies in language use from children with autism. Table 12.1 shows the developmental language milestones from 12 months to 7 years. 

I found the article to be extremely informative and gave me new insight into early language, as well as reinforced what I already knew. Some facts that I found interesting were:
- The expressive and receptive language of a two year old with autism is equivalent to that of a 9 month old.
- Based on parent reports, about 15% of children with autism lose most of their obtained words between 12 and 18 months old.
- Past tense verb usage is difficult for children with ASD.
- Echolalia is very common amongst early language learners with ASD.
- Confusion with personal pronouns (e.g. Saying, "You ready for this." Instead of "I am ready for this.")
- Abnormal intonation patterns... more monotone voice.

I see most if not all of these traits in all of my clients with ASD that I work with, which I found fascinating! 

Reference: 

Tager-Flusberg, H., Paul, R., & Lord, C. (2005). Language and communication in autism. Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders, 1, 335-364. Retrieved from https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/autism/class/339_99903_Chapter%2012%20Language%20and%20communication%20in%20autism.pdf

Link to the article: https://medicine.yale.edu/childstudy/autism/class/339_99903_Chapter%2012%20Language%20and%20communication%20in%20autism.pdf

Predictors of Phrase and Fluent Speech in Children With Autism and Severe Language Delay

I chose to read this article because it reviewed a large number of children with Autism and PDD-NOS  who had significant language delays. The study examined what predictors educators could look for and expect when working with children with ASD and/or PDD-NOS. The study found that by age 9, 24% of children with Autism obtain fluent speech and 30% are termed nonverbal. Whereas 59% of children with pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) obtain fluent speech and 4% are termed nonverbal by age 9.

I found these results to be very interesting, as they clearly show that obtaining verbal language is much more difficult for children with an Autism diagnosis. The researchers noticed the same trend and posed the questions, "why [are there] a large number of children with ASD [that] do not develop meaningful language during their preschool years?" One of the theories that the researchers had was that repetitive behaviors may have an adverse effect on language development. I think that this theory is relevant because if a child's behaviors are appropriate and manageable, then they are in a positive learning state to learn verbal language. 

This article gave me great insight into what I need to focus on when doing my research study. I will need to focus first on the participants behaviors that may be impeding his/her learning, then move onto the language acquisition training. 

 

Reference:

Wodka, E. L., Mathy, P., & Kalb, L. (2013). Predictors of phrase and fluent speech in children with 

       autism and severe language delay. Pediatrics - Official Journal of the American Academy of 

       Pediatrics, 131(4), e1128-e1134. doi:10.1542/peds.2012-2221