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Teaching Two Autistic Children to Request Continuation of Social Routines with Their Parents Using an iPad®-Based Speech-Generating Device

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Abstract

Objectives

Many minimally verbal autistic children may benefit from learning to use a speech-generating device (SGD) to communicate. There is limited research examining the effects of teaching autistic children to use SGDs during social interactions or routines.

Methods

This study evaluated the effects of systematic instruction for teaching two autistic children to request the continuation of actions using an iPad®-based SGD. A multiple baseline across participants design was used and instruction occurred during preferred social routines between each child and their mother.

Results

Results suggest that both children learned to request the continuation of actions during preferred social routines with their parents. They were also able to choose between routines and showed some evidence of generalization of this skill to a researcher.

Conclusions

These results suggest that systematic instructional procedures may be effective in teaching autistic children to request in the context of motivating social routines.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the autistic children and their families who participated in this research. Support for this research was provided from the New Zealand Government through the Marsden Fund, administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand (Grant Number 10-VUW-071), and by Victoria University of Wellington, The University of Canterbury, and The New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain & Behaviour.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, 6140, New Zealand

    Hannah Waddington, Amarie Carnett, Larah van der Meer & Jeff Sigafoos

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  1. Hannah Waddington
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  2. Amarie Carnett
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  3. Larah van der Meer
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  4. Jeff Sigafoos
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Contributions

HW: assisted with the design and execution of the study, graphed and analyzed the data, and drafted the manuscript. AC: assisted with the design and execution of the study, provided feedback on data analysis and drafts of the manuscript. LvM: assisted with the design and execution of the study, provided feedback on drafts of the manuscript. JS: assisted with the design of the study, provided feedback on data analysis and drafts of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hannah Waddington.

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Conflict of Interest

JS receives stipends for editorial work and has received royalties for books and book chapters. Otherwise, the authors report no conflicts of interest.

Ethics Statement

The study was approved by the Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics Committee.

Informed Consent

Parents provided consent for their child to take part in the study and their child’s assent was inferred by their willing participation in all sessions.

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Waddington, H., Carnett, A., van der Meer, L. et al. Teaching Two Autistic Children to Request Continuation of Social Routines with Their Parents Using an iPad®-Based Speech-Generating Device. Adv Neurodev Disord 7, 353–363 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41252-021-00215-9

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