Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder are likely to demonstrate social impairments that contribute to challenging behaviors and academic difficulties. As a result, the task of improving social communication skills is a critical component to any educational program for this population. Scripting provides an evidence-based and versatile option for…

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of audio script and script-fading procedure in teaching initiation to children with ASD. Three children with ASD and a parent of each child participated in the study. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across children was used. The findings showed that the initiation emitted by the children…

Play is a universal activity that is an integral part of childhood experiences and aids in the development of important skills. While most children naturally engage in play, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) do not follow the typical pattern of play development and often exhibit delays in play skills. One of the defining characteristics…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have deficits in social skills and may avoid engaging in play activities with typically developing peers. The purpose of this study was to identify the utility of activity schedules, with embedded scripts, to teach three children with ASD to play a complex social game. Specifically, children with…

Students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often exhibit challenges with reading development. Evidence-based interventions and specialized approaches to reading instruction are currently being implemented across educational contexts for learners with ASD (Machalicek et al., 2008), yet there is limited understanding of how core ASD features may…

Young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrate behavioral deficits and excesses that can adversely affect their play skills. Teaching children with ASD to use activity schedules with embedded scripts have led to increased appropriate game play with other children with autism and typically developing peers; however, there is sparse…

Both scripted lessons and unscripted task analyzed lessons have been used effectively to teach science content to students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. This study evaluated the efficacy, efficiency, and teacher preference of scripted and unscripted task analyzed lesson plans from an elementary science curriculum…

The use of technology has proven to be a successful tool for enhancing the learning of children with disabilities. One example is the use of video-recorded social story movies as interventions for children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Through the use of electronic devices such as iPads, iPods and tablets, social stories are brought to…

Research demonstrates young children with autism and other developmental disabilities can benefit from participation in play activities with peers. Play provides opportunities to increase social skills across developmental domains in an integrated manner and provides opportunities to develop a sense of belonging and friendship; these goals…

Preparing secondary students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for a variety of potential professions is important to enhance their postsecondary employment outcomes. This article provides step-by-step guidelines for practitioners to use video modeling interventions to develop the customer service skills of students with ASD who are employed or…

Scripts in written or auditory form have been used to teach conversational skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but with the proliferation of handheld tablet devices the scope to combine these 2 formats has broadened. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate if a script-based intervention, presented on an iPad…

The acquisition of receptive and expressive language skills by students with autism and developmental disabilities (DD) is often delayed, thus making the process of communicating with others challenging. Some students develop language skills incidentally through conversations with their families and peers, but others require instruction in…

A hallmark of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is difficulties with social communication, and some learners with ASD experience additional deficits in expressive and/or receptive language that impair their ability to interact with others. However, a strength observed in many learners with ASD is responding to visual cues and structure. The use of…

A multiple baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate the effects of a script-training procedure on the peer-to-peer communication of 3 children with autism spectrum disorder during group play with peers. Both scripted and unscripted initiations as well as responses to peers increased for all 3 participants. Stimulus…

One of the challenges in supporting young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in inclusive classrooms is the generalization of improved social behaviors. Using a multiple-baseline design across participants, this study examined the generalized effects of social script training alone and combined with peer buddies on the interactive play…