Play And Language Pal Program For Early Autism Intervention

Author : Suzanne M. Foster-Sanda
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (948 download)

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Download or read book Enhancing the Play and Commenting Abilities of Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders Through Caregiver-implemented Teaching of Play written by Suzanne M. Foster-Sanda and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Children are being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) more frequently and at younger ages, with a growing number of toddlers receiving ASD diagnoses and accessing early intervention (EI) services. Young children with ASD, including toddlers, show marked delays in play and benefit from interventions that move them forward in their play skill development. Evidence-based approaches, including incidental teaching, have been used to teach play skills to preschool-aged children with ASD, and, in some instances, have yielded simultaneous improvements in their commenting skills, although language goals were not targeted directly in the teaching. Despite these positive empirical outcomes, gaps currently exist in the play intervention literature. Although ASD prevalence and EI eligibility rates are rising, few studies have examined the impact of direct teaching in play on the play and commenting abilities of toddlers with ASD; the majority of studies have involved preschool-aged children who received play instruction in school settings or in home settings from research assistants, but not from their primary caregivers. For most play intervention studies with preschool-aged children, the skills that were targeted for intervention were vague, derived arbitrarily, and disconnected from children's specific learning needs. A few studies used incidental teaching approaches to teach developmentally specific play activities, yet not to toddlers with ASD. This study was designed to investigate how caregiver-delivered instruction in play impacted the play and commenting abilities of toddlers with ASD. Five male toddlers (23-32 months old) with ASD were recruited from a local EI agency and received instruction based on least-to-most prompting that targeted play skills that were at the emergent level, evidenced by results from the Developmental Play Assessment (DPA) and baseline session data. The children's response to intervention varied. Although limited conclusions can be made about differences in response to intervention because of methodological study constraints, results provide preliminary evidence that the children showed play and commenting skills that were not present during baseline. The results of this study contribute to the literature base by describing the rationale, methods, and outcomes of a play intervention with empirical and theoretical relevance that was linked to individualized assessment targets based on each child's developmental level. Directions for future research include refining intervention procedures and conducting studies with more robust research designs and statistical procedures, both of which are important for informing the practice of EI service providers and school psychologists who work with early childhood populations.