Few interventions exist for school-aged minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Even though play skills are associated with children's production of language, few studies have focused on play for minimally verbal children. Fifty-eight minimally verbal children with ASD received a naturalistic developmental behavioral…

Powerful, portable, off-the-shelf handheld devices, such as tablet based computers (i.e., iPad®; Galaxy®) or portable multimedia players (i.e., iPod®), can be adapted to function as speech generating devices for individuals with autism spectrum disorders or related developmental disabilities. This paper reviews the research in this new and rapidly…

Objectives: This study investigates the effects of assistive technology on improving communication skills of children with autism. Methods: Twelve children with autism (mean age=8 years) randomly assigned to either experimental groups or a control group (n=4 per group). The study confirmed validity and stability for the language skills scale for…

Personal digital assistants (PDAs) are versatile task organizers that hold promise as assistive technologies for people with cognitive-behavioral challenges. This delayed randomized controlled trial compared two groups of adult workers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to determine whether the use of an Apple iPod Touch PDA as a vocational…

Purpose: The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of a collection of invited articles on the topic "specific language impairment (SLI) in children with concomitant health conditions or nonmainstream language backgrounds." Topics include SLI, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder,…

It has been argued that clinical applications of advanced technology may hold promise for addressing impairments associated with autism spectrum disorders. This pilot feasibility study evaluated the application of a novel adaptive robot-mediated system capable of both administering and automatically adjusting joint attention prompts to a small…

Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) applications may differ in their use of display and design elements. Using a multielement design, this study compared mand acquisition in three preschool-aged males with autism spectrum disorder, across three different displays in two iPad® AAC applications. Displays included a Widgit symbol button…

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the use of the iPod Touch™ as a Speech Generated Device (SGD) for Functional Communication Training (FCT). The evaluation of the effects on problem behavior, the effects on generalization and maintenance of the acquired communication repertoire, and the social initiations of peers between the new SGD (iPod…

The Center for Disease Control estimates that one in 88 births result in a diagnosis of autism (CDC, 2012). Of those individuals diagnosed with autism approximately 25-61% fail to develop vocal output capabilities (Weitxz, Dexter, & Moore, 1997). The use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) systems, such as Picture Exchange (PE)…

Children with Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) frequently have difficulty riding a two-wheel bicycle. The purpose of this study was to investigate an intervention using an adapted bicycle and individualized instruction to teach 71 youth to ride a standard two-wheel bicycle. Youth with DS (n = 30) and ASD (n = 41) between the…

The purpose of this comparative efficacy study was to investigate the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and a speech-generating device (SGD) in developing requesting skills, social-communicative behavior, and speech for three elementary-age children with severe autism and little to no functional speech. Requesting was selected as the…

This study compares use of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and a Voice Output Communication Aide (VOCA) with four preschool children who were either non-speaking or limited in their ability to speak and did not use an AAC system to communicate functionally. An alternating treatment single subject design was used to measure…

The aim of the book is to serve for clinical, practical, basic and scholarly practices. In twentyfive chapters it covers the most important topics related to Autism Spectrum Disorders in the efficient way and aims to be useful for health professionals in training or clinicians seeking an update. Different people with autism can have very different…

Background: In the context of the established finding that theory-of-mind (ToM) growth is seriously delayed in late-signing deaf children, and some evidence of equivalent delays in those learning speech with conventional hearing aids, this study's novel contribution was to explore ToM development in deaf children with cochlear implants. Implants…