The Effects of Partner Assisted Communication on Initiation during Play

Abstract

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) exhibit social and communication delays which make it difficult from them to initiate communication with others. The participants in this study include three young children with autism. This single subject study proposes to investigate whether a form of assistive technology called the Pragmatic Organized Dynamic Display (PODD) will increase the amount of times children with ASD initiate communication with others. All participants participated in a baseline phase of intervention which took place over a two week period. Baseline information was conducted during free play activities and activities were routine activities that took place in an early childhood special education classroom. The number of times the children initiated communication with peers or adults was tracked. After a baseline was established the PODD was modeled for a two week period (4 sessions) by the speech therapist and the researcher (early childhood teacher). During the intervention phase of this study the PODD was made available to the children during play time. The number of times they initiated communication was counted for a 4 week period (8 sessions). Results of this study suggest that children with ASD benefit from visual supports to increase their ability to initiate communication with others. This study supported the theory that when communication is modeled using the PODD that children with ASD are more comfortable initiating language and their ability to initiate with their peers is increased. Implications for this study include the need for future research on how partner assisted communication can be used as evidence based practice for children with ASD.