Understanding how children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) improve oral language skills in relationship to tutor prompting has not yet been investigated. The study examined how variation in language prompt use by tutors during a storybook reading intervention influences growth in vocabulary and emergent literacy for young children with ASD.…

Research indicates the characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder include challenges with receptive and expressive language, which can negatively impact social-emotional development and physical regulation. The needs of children with autism are expected to greatly impact the current medical and educational resources, thus effective intervention…

With the increasing prevalence of autism diagnoses, large percentage of diagnosed individuals with comorbid language difficulties, and negative effects of these difficulties on language development and overall functioning, research on language acquisition in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder is essential. The current study used data…

There is a great need for research on the topic of bilingualism of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially in the Hispanic/Latino community, which numerically comprises the largest growing minority group in the United States. Little is known about how young culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) children with ASD use their…

"Language for Learning" ("LL") is an oral language curriculum that uses Direct Instruction (DI) methodology. DI is well researched, but only limited studies exists on the use of "LL" with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study used a multiple baseline research design, across four, four-year-old…

The purpose of this study was to investigate Chinese-speaking families' perspectives of their advocacy for the education of their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and provided perspectives that enabled educational stakeholders to understand the barriers diverse families encounter. Children with disabilities had historically received…

This case study examines the home language and literacy events and practices of two families with children who have Autism Spectrum Disorder. These families are immigrants from Peru and Pakistan, they are multilingual and from working class backgrounds. Specifically, this study explores how these families create meaningful opportunities to provide…

Much research in autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has focused on the development of efficacious interventions to address the core deficits of ASD. However, the heterogeneous nature of ASD complicates the development of such interventions. With great heterogeneity in the expression of ASD's core deficits, it is unlikely that there is a one size fits…

Notions of accessibility bring to question the perceived deficits in narrative comprehension for autistic people. This deficit has been positioned as having a cognitive processing disposition towards local coherence, rather than global coherence. Rather than a unitary deficit in the individual, reduced performance on inferential narrative…

Social-emotional development, psychosocial functioning, and relational experiences have been shown to impact academic achievement and psychological well-being. Social skills have been identified as being particularly critical in promoting mental health and life-long success. Children with well-developed social skills (e.g., sharing, being…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show a wide range of developmental characteristics and differ from each other in terms of symptom presentation. This heterogeneity leads to difficulties when trying to individualize treatments that work for individual children with ASD. Therefore, identifying and understanding subgroups of children on…

Research has identified language impairment as a pervasive disability (Bishop & Edmundson, 1987; Greenhalgh & Strong, 2001). Classroom communication behaviors have a role in the maintenance of special education eligibility and functional communication difficulties for young children with language impairment. This paper reviews the…

Current accountability measures require English language arts (ELA) teachers to teach literacy skills to all students. However, the population of mainstreamed students is becomingly increasingly diverse and includes students on the autism spectrum for whom literacy skills may lie in opposition to population characteristics. Further, educators are…

In children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, social communication deficits are identified as core developmental impairments. The ability to carry on a conversation through verbal exchanges poses challenges for individuals on the spectrum. The impact of exposure to a multilingual and multicultural environment on children with ASD is unknown and few…

This applied dissertation study compared the effectiveness of the iPad-assisted and traditional flashcard-assisted instruction for teaching receptive labeling skills to learners with autism. A lack of access to certified service providers and insurance coverage and the inability to receive a diagnosis of autism prevent families from accessing…