Procedures for teaching appropriate gestural communication skills to children with autism

Author(s): Krantz, P. J., McClannahan, L. E., Poulson, C. L.

Journal/Book: J Autism Dev Disord. 1998; 28: 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013, USA. Plenum Publ Corp. 535-545.

Abstract: Four children with autism were taught to use gestures in combination with oral communication. Using a multiple-baseline across-responses design, intervention was introduced successively across three response categories containing gestures representative of attention-directing/getting, affective, and descriptive behavior. Although none of the participants displayed appropriate gestural and verbal responses during baseline, all participants acquired this skill with the systematic implementation of modeling, prompting, and reinforcement. Generalization measures indicated that the children learned to respond in the presence of novel stimuli and a novel setting. Social validity measures revealed that the participants' behavior appeared more socially appropriate at the completion of the study than at the start of the study, and that the participants' behavior was indistinguishable from that of their typically developing peers.

Note: Article Buffington DM, Princeton Child Dev Inst, Princeton,NJ USA

Keyword(s): gestural communication; teaching procedure; DEVELOPMENTAL LANGUAGE DELAY; JOINT ATTENTION; SOCIAL-BEHAVIOR; CONTEXT; SPEECH

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