Background: Problems with pragmatic aspects of language are well attested in individuals on the autism spectrum. It remains unclear, however, whether figurative language skills improve with language status and whether problems in figurative language are no longer present in highly verbal individuals with autism. Aims: To investigate whether highly…

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental conditions that vary in both etiology and phenotypic expression. Expressions of ASD characterized by a more severe phenotype, including autism with intellectual disability (ASD + ID), autism with a history of developmental regression (ASD + R), and minimally verbal…

There are clear associations between the overall quantity of input children are exposed to and their vocabulary acquisition. However, by uncovering specific features of the input that matter, we can better understand the mechanisms involved in vocabulary learning. We examine whether exposure to "wh"-questions, a challenging quality of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate consistency in spelling skills across 2 different tasks of written production (dictation vs. composition) and stability of performance across 4 different grades. We assessed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders' spelling performance through 4 tasks: 2 dictation tasks (passage and sentences) and 2 composition…

The purpose of the current paper is to describe the impact of applied behaviour analysis on language treatment for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) diagnoses. Specifically, this paper will describe Skinner's theory of verbal behaviour and its contributions to evidence-based treatments for communication deficits among individuals with…

The lexicon of 6-month-olds is comprised of names and body part words. Unlike names, body part words do not often occur in isolation in the input. This presents a puzzle: How have infants been able to pull out these words from the continuous stream of speech at such a young age? We hypothesize that caregivers' interactions directed at and on…

Literature shows that parent-implemented language interventions have positive effects on children language skills. Nevertheless, studies in this field suffer from two limitations. This pilot study compared the efficiency of two brief self-implemented interventions, each aiming to manipulate a specific parenting language variable, on a non-clinical…

Echolalia is a linguistic phenomenon common in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. This study examined the relationship between demand complexity and immediate echolalia in 4 students with an autism diagnosis in a university-based academic setting. Mastered and novel antecedent verbal demands that required an intraverbal response were…

This article engages in a reflexive, critical, analysis, re-examining data from an earlier project that used qualitative interviewing to investigate the experiences of women who came into contact with police because of situations of "verbal abuse." In the present article, we use discursive psychology to explore how the women navigated…

This study investigated the relationship between kindergartners' Spontaneous Focusing on Numerosity (SFON) and their number-related utterances during numerical picture book reading. Forty-eight 4- to 5-year-olds were individually interviewed via a SFON Imitation Task and a numerical picture book reading activity. We expected differences in the…

Although preschoolers are pervasively underinformative in their actual usage of verbal reference, a number of studies have shown that they nonetheless demonstrate sensitivity to listener informational needs, at least when environmental cues to this are obvious. We investigated two issues. The first concerned the types of visual cues to…

With Kazakhstan's accession to the Bologna Process, particular importance is attached to the professionally-oriented approach of teaching foreign languages to students, which facilitates formation of their foreign language communicative ability. The article deals with the problem of teaching English to students for the purpose of formation of…

Background: Bullying behavior in schools can lead to psychosocial problems. School-based interventions are important in raising student awareness, developing their skills and in planning to reduce bullying behavior. Methods: A randomized controlled trial, using a school-based educational intervention to reduce verbal bullying, was conducted among…

Several studies have suggested that contingent adult imitation increase nonverbal communication, such as attention and proximity to adults, in children with autism spectrum disorders. However, few studies have shown the effect of contingent imitation on verbal communication. This study examined whether children with autism were able to promote…

Early and intensive behavioral intervention has been shown to result in favorable outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder. Procedures and practices based on and influenced by B. F. Skinner's Verbal Behavior (VB) have been increasingly integrated into EIBI curricula in recent years. In this article, I give an overview of some basic…