The use of interactive technologies has been demonstrated to enhance verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as the social interaction tendencies of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We examined effects of using Virtual Voice Assistant (VVAs) in children with ASD with respect to two outcomes: speech skills and social interaction…

Numerous studies have investigated the predictors of language in pre-verbal toddlers and verbally fluent children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The present study investigated the concurrent relations among expressive language and a set of empirically-selected social communication variables--joint attention, imitation, and play--in a unique…

This study investigated whether parent perceptions of their own and their child's levels of talkativeness were related to objective measures recorded via the Language Environment Analysis (LENA) System. Parents of 258 children aged 7 to 60 months completed a questionnaire on which they rated how much they and their child talked. Six months…

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…

Teaching grammar in a way that enables students to use grammatical structures correctly in their active use has always been one of the intricate tasks for most practitioners. This study compared the effectiveness of three instructional methods: games, dialogues practiced through role-play, and unfocused tasks for teaching grammar. Forty-eight…

This manual presents an assessment instrument designed to help teachers, educational specialists, speech-language therapists, psychologists, and other service providers evaluate the communication skills of children, adolescents, and young adults who have multiple disabilities, including severe or profound mental retardation and deafblindness. It…