Naturalistic observations of elicited expressive communication of children with autism

Abstract

This study observed expressive communication of 17 Australian and 15 Taiwanese children with autism who were mute or had limited spoken language during 2 hour regular school routines and analyzed teacher instructions associated with elicited expressive communication. Results indicated: (a) the frequency of occurrence of elicited expressive communication was very low; (b) the incidence of elicited expressive communication was negatively correlated with autism severity; (c) verbal prompt and a combination of verbal prompt and modeling were the most common types of teacher instruction and the use of physical prompt was a rate event; (d) modeling and verbal prompt were positively correlated with speech and unaided augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and a combination of verbal prompt and modeling was positively associated with aided AAC; and (e) modeling, verbal prompt, and a combination of modeling and verbal prompt were positively correlated with requesting function and commenting function was positively correlated with modeling and verbal prompt.