Promising evidence for the use of the Communication Complexity Scale to measure interaction between minimally verbal preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder and their peers1

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Laci Watkins ◽  
Cindy Gevarter ◽  
Xiaoyi Hu
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Communication Complexity ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Minimally Verbal

Parent Education in Studies With Nonverbal and Minimally Verbal Participants With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 890-902
Author(s):  
Lynn Kern Koegel ◽  
Katherine M. Bryan ◽  
Pumpki Lei Su ◽  
Mohini Vaidya ◽  
Stephen Camarata
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Parent Education ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Fidelity Of Implementation ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Minimally Verbal ◽  
Parent Education Programs

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to identify parent education procedures implemented in intervention studies focused on expressive verbal communication for nonverbal (NV) or minimally verbal (MV) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parent education has been shown to be an essential component in the habilitation of individuals with ASD. Parents of individuals with ASD who are NV or MV may particularly benefit from parent education in order to provide opportunities for communication and to support their children across the life span. Method ProQuest databases were searched between the years of 1960 and 2018 to identify articles that targeted verbal communication in MV and NV individuals with ASD. A total of 1,231 were evaluated to assess whether parent education was implemented. We found 36 studies that included a parent education component. These were reviewed with regard to (a) the number of participants and participants' ages, (b) the parent education program provided, (c) the format of the parent education, (d) the duration of the parent education, (e) the measurement of parent education, and (f) the parent fidelity of implementation scores. Results The results of this analysis showed that very few studies have included a parent education component, descriptions of the parent education programs are unclear in most studies, and few studies have scored the parents' implementation of the intervention. Conclusions Currently, there is great variability in parent education programs in regard to participant age, hours provided, fidelity of implementation, format of parent education, and type of treatment used. Suggestions are made to provide both a more comprehensive description and consistent measurement of parent education programs.

scholarly journals Brief, Intensive, and Concentrated Treatment of Specific Phobia in a Child With Minimally Verbal Autism Spectrum Disorder

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16
Author(s):  
Ashley Muskett ◽  
Sarah Radtke ◽  
Thomas H. Ollendick
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Young Male ◽  
Specific Phobia ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Reliable Change Index ◽  
Minimally Verbal

This case study illustrates a brief, intensive, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for a young male client with a specific phobia of dogs and comorbid autism spectrum disorder (ASD). CBT has been shown to be an effective treatment for anxiety in children with ASD; however, this work has not often been extended to children with language impairment. This case study presents significant modifications to one-session treatment (OST) for specific phobia to make it applicable to a child with minimally verbal ASD. The intervention included four 3-hr treatment sessions conducted over the course of four consecutive days. Assessment sessions were conducted before treatment, and 1 week and 3 months following treatment. The client’s phobia symptoms decreased following the intervention at both the posttreatment and follow-up sessions. The Reliable Change Index (RCI) was calculated to evaluate changes from pretreatment to posttreatment and follow-up and demonstrated a clinically significant decrease in phobia symptomology following intervention. The results suggest the potential efficacy for a brief, intensive, and concentrated CBT treatment for a child with minimally verbal ASD and a severe phobia.

Prescribing Yoked Prism in Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): A Study of Inter- and Intraexaminer Agreement Using the Kaplan Nonverbal Battery

2019 ◽  
pp. 84-99
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Minimally Verbal ◽  
Cohen’S Kappa ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Weighted Version ◽  
Cohen's Kappa ◽  
Examiner Agreement ◽  
Live Presentation

Background Double-blind studies have reported improvements in posture, spatial awareness, and behavior in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) individuals wearing yoked prism lenses. The Kaplan Nonverbal Battery (KNB) is a performance-based test used to evaluate yoked prism lenses. To date, only Kaplan has reported KNB results. This study investigates inter-examiner and intra-examiner agreement obtained in scoring the KNB in nonverbal/ minimally verbal ASD subjects. Methods Ten nonverbal/minimally verbal ASD subjects between 9 and 17 years old enrolled and completed an eye examination. All subjects adapted to spectacles, wearing refractive correction for four weeks. Subjects completed two study visits that were videotaped. At each visit, subjects completed the KNB wearing habitual spectacle correction and then wearing yoked prism lenses of five-prism diopters base up or down. Two examiners scored the KNB live and two other examiners scored the KNB via videorecording. Examiners were masked to the base direction of the yoked prism lenses and to the other examiners’ responses. Agreement between and within examiners was computed using the weighted version of Cohen’s kappa. Results Nine subjects completed both study visits. Both inter-examiner and intra-examiner agreement were markedly better when examiners scored via video. When scored by live presentation, inter-examiner agreement by the weighted Cohen’s kappa coefficient was 0.674, 0.364, 0.726 and 0.357. When scored via video, inter-examiner agreement was 0.634, 0.620,0.702 and 0.678. Intra-examiner agreement for live presentation was 0.451 and 0.579, but increased for video scoring to 0.861 and 0.875. Conclusions Examiners assessing the KNB to evaluate yoked prism lenses for nonverbal or minimally verbal ASD children consistently showed good inter-examiner and intra-examiner agreement when evaluating by video, but not by live presentation. Clinicians may improve reliability by incorporating scoring of the KNB by video presentation.

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