Robotic Intervention Program for Enhancement of Social Engagement among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Purpose The current study examined whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in comparison with typically developing children, perceive and produce gestures to identify nonpresent objects (i.e., referent-identifying gestures), which is crucial for communicating ideas in a discourse. Method An experimenter described the uses of daily-life objects to 6- to 12-year-old children both orally and with gestures. The children were then asked to describe how they performed daily activities using those objects. Results All children gestured. A gesture identified a nonpresent referent if it was produced in the same location that had previously been established by the experimenter. Children with ASD gestured at the specific locations less often than typically developing children. Verbal and spatial memory were positively correlated with the ability to produce referent-identifying gestures for all children. However, the positive correlation between Raven's Children Progressive Matrices score and the production of referent-identifying gestures was found only in children with ASD. Conclusions Children with ASD might be less able to perceive and produce referent-identifying gestures and may rely more heavily on visual–spatial skills in producing referent-identifying gestures. The results have clinical implications for designing an intervention program to enhance the ability of children with ASD to communicate about nonpresent objects with gestures.

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Narrative Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2015_jslhr-l-14-0295 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 58 (3) ◽

pp. 920-933 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Sandra Laing Gillam ◽

Daphne Hartzheim ◽

Breanna Studenka ◽

Vicki Simonsmeier ◽

Ronald Gillam

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Mental State ◽

Intervention Program ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Design Data ◽

Story Structure ◽

Narrative Intervention ◽

Causal Language

Purpose This study was conducted to determine whether a narrative intervention program that targeted the use of mental state and causal language resulted in positive gains in narrative production for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Method Five children (2 girls and 3 boys) who had been diagnosed with ASD participated in the study. Children ranged in age from 8 to 12 years and were recruited through an autism clinic. Intervention was provided for two 50-min individual sessions per week for a total of 21–33 sessions (depending on the student). Children's spontaneous stories, collected weekly, were analyzed for overall story complexity, story structure, and the use of mental state and causal language. Following a multiple-baseline across-participants design, data were collected for lagged baseline and intervention phases over a 6-month period. Results All of the children made gains on all 3 measures of narration after participating in the instruction, with clear changes in level for all 5 children and changes in trend for 4 of the 5 children. The gains were maintained after intervention was discontinued. Conclusion The results demonstrate the efficacy of the 3-phase narrative instruction program for improving the fictional narration abilities of children with ASD.

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Meta-analysis of naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism ◽

10.1177/1362361319836371 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 23 (8) ◽

pp. 2080-2095 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Gabrielle Tiede ◽

Katherine M. Walton

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Behavioral Intervention ◽

Social Engagement ◽

Behavioral Interventions ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Children With Autism ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Young Children With Autism ◽

Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention

Naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention is an emerging class of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorder. The present article is a meta-analysis of outcomes of group-design studies ( n = 27) testing interventions using naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention strategies. Small, significant positive effects of naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention were found for expressive language ( g = 0.32), reduction in symptoms of autism spectrum disorder ( g = −0.38), and play skills ( g = 0.23). Larger effects were found for social engagement ( g = 0.65) and overall cognitive development ( g = 0.48). A marginal effect was found for joint attention ( g = 0.14) and receptive language ( g = 0.28). For joint attention, improvement was moderated by hours of professional involvement. Evidence of publication and reporting bias was present for language outcomes. This meta-analysis grows the evidence base for naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions, particularly in the key areas of social engagement and cognition.

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