Article Title: A Randomized Comparison of the Effect of Two Prelinguistic Communication Interventions on the Acquisition of Spoken Communication in Preschoolers with ASD
This article was about an experimental study of the effectiveness of two communication interventions, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and Responsive Education and Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching (RPMT) using a group of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). For those readers out there that are unfamiliar with these two communication interventions, let me take a moment to explain them.
The Picture Exchange Communication System, or PECS, is a method that involves teaching an individual to make requests for items through the use of pictures. For example, if a boy wants to play with a ball, he would give a picture of a ball to his play partner (e.g. teacher, parent, sibling, peers, etc.). There is a full PECS training that involves five "phases" of formal training and is typically done with a partner when teaching the child to use it.
The Responsive Education and Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching, or RPMT, is a method that focuses on two components: parent education (Responsive Education) and children (Prelinguistic Milieu Teaching). Parents receive one-on-one education and training about how to incorporate the intervention at home through play-based therapy. The children's piece involves the therapist to follow the child's lead through using "teachable moments" during play to focus on gestural, vocal and nonvocal methods of communicating their wants and needs appropriately.
I was interested in this particular article a) because I am interested which method is more effective and b) because I had never heard of the RPMT method. The study was conducted over the course of 6 months and included three 20-minute intervention sessions per week that took place at the university clinic. Parents also received 15 hours of educational training in both methods in order to increase wrap around intervention. A computer program was used in order to randomize which child received which intervention (19 - PECS and 17 - RPMT).
The results of the study were fascinating! Researchers found that PECS aided in high object examination using a variety of words that were not imitated by children. However, RPMT helped children that had lower object examination gain more words. After the 6 month research intervention was complete, the study found that PECS aided in acquiring verbal communication faster than RMPT.
References
Yoder, P., & Stone, W. L. (2006). A randomized comparison of the effect of two prelinguistic
communication interventions on the acquisition of spoken communication in
preschoolers with ASD. Journal Of Speech, Language & Hearing Research, 49(4), 698-
711. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2006/051)
Here is the Permalink to the article:
https://ezproxy.western.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=21903502&site=ehost-live
