2.  Imitation is important because it is a prerequisite skill for observational learning (Garfinkle and Schwartz 2002)  Research has shown that imitation is vital to a child’s success in school and social settings (Ganz)

3.  Purpose ◦ Investigate the utility of using a package to improve imitation skills in children with autism  Method ◦ Four children were selected for the study who failed to imitated their peers during a classroom observation  Procedure ◦ Data collected from individuals in various intervals for 4 minute sessions ◦ Visual cues were used to judge for imitation

4.  Results ◦ 3 of the 4 participants showed an increase in imitation behaviors because of visual cues  Discussion ◦ Research was used to help teachers find different ways to help children with autism manage behavior issues Jennifer Ganz, Margaret Flores, and B. Campos

5.  Participants ◦ Three children who were diagnosed as being autistic  Method ◦ To investigate the effectiveness of written scripts and visual cues for children with autism  Procedure ◦ Three baseline activities, 5 minutes each, for all three participants with intervention of scripts and pictures

6.  Results ◦ Increase in all participants  Discussion ◦ Written scripts increase peer initiations ◦ Visual cues were used to decrease repetitious speech that interfered with peer interactions ◦ Prior to study all three participants used repetitive speech such as echoing movie lines Jennifer Ganz, Maria Kaylor, Bethany Bourgeois, Kathy Hadden

7.  Teachers can use this information to help manage children in the classroom who may have autism.  Can help normally developing children  Add an interaction between all children  Visual cues can be used for younger children not just children with autism

8. Do children with autism use the speaker’s direction of gaze strategy to crack the code of language? Baron-Cohen, Baldwin and Crowson (1997)

9. SDG  SDG-speaker’s direction of gaze  Key strategy that normal developing children use to find what an adult is talking about  What if a child did not use the SDG? What would this child assume a “dog” is?

10. LDG  LDG- listener’s direction of gaze  If we only use the LDG, many times the word will be linked to the wrong object.  Most Autisitc children show little or no gaze monitoring, thus they use LDG more often.  Leads to more word mapping errors

11. Word Connections-Word mapping  Tons of research- show that word connection errors very common in autistic children  Hypothesis of this study- -”children with autism would use the LDG rather than the SDG strategy, and as a result would show a high-rate of word mapping problems.”

12. Study  Two groups ◦ Group 1: 17 autistic children, average age 9 ◦ Group 2: 17 mentally disabled children (none with autism), average age 9

13. Procedure  Pretest (all passed)  Test  Results: ◦ Hypothesis supported ◦ Group 1 (autistic): 5 out of 17 passed- 29%  12 failed- all chose the child’s toy ◦ Group2 (non-autistic): 12 out of 17 passed-71%

14. Conclusion - The autistic children assumed the new word went with the object they were looking at- LDG. - This egocentric behavior is what led to the word mapping errors. - Supports previous research that children with autism are relatively blind to the mentalistic significance of the eyes.

15. Meadan, Halle, Ostrosky, DeStefano (2008)

16.  Communication repair: the ability to persist in communication and to repeat or modify a signal when faced with a breakdown in communication  Example: if child reaches for a toy and the mother asks, “what?” and then the child reaches for the toy again and vocalizes

17.  There have been several studies on repair strategies used by verbal children with mild disabilities such as learning disabilities and mental retardation  Little research has been done on communication repair with children who have disabilities and limited expressive language.

18. Participants:  Two boys- both had autism and very limited expressive language. Both previously enrolled in an early intervention program and received speech therapy in their home.  Ray: Two years old when observations began  Ethan: Two years 20 months old when the observations began

19.  The researchers chose to study the children in their natural environment at home. They watched both children at least once a week for several months. They collected informal conversations with the parents as well as recorded interactions between mother and child.  A total of 25 hours was recorded for both children combined.

20.  Ray: 96 episodes of communication repairs observed during natural interactions between Ray and his mother.  During the book activity, Ray hit most often (67%) to request. During food routines, Ray vocalized (57%) most often to request. During parachute activity, Ray led (46%) his communication partner to the parachute most often.

21.  Ethan: Only a limited number or communication episodes occurred during the natural observations. Episodes of communication repair were never observed. Researchers decided to terminate observations on Ethan after no communication repairs were observed during a 5 month period

22.  Environment had a critical role in the communication of both boys Ray: toys and favorite activities were placed out of reach. To get what he wanted, Ray had to communicate his needs to an adult. Ray’s mother was an active part in his play and communication efforts. Ethan: his environment allowed him to access his toys and things with ease. He mainly played alone. His environment did not require him to communicate frequently.

23. Beyond Pragmatics Eligsti. J.M., Bennetto. L., & Dadlani, M.B (2007) Investigating whether children with Autism exhibit syntactic abilities same as developmental age.

24. Method 3 groups Autism group Developmentally delayed group Typically developed group Tested with Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale 4 th Ed. Free Play sessions

25. Findings Pronounced language that was significantly less complex for developmental age Shorter MLU Reached Syntactic abilities atypical developmental pathway, not simple-complex Strength was lexical knowledge, richer that peers as they comprehended and produced just as many. Likely to participate in conversation less. Produce utterances that don’t contribute to discourse May be overrepresented is only measured by lexical abilities as this in an inadequate marker of language ability.

26.  Ganz, J. B., Kaylor, M., Bourgeois, B., & Hadden, K. (2008). The impact of social scripts and visual cues of verbal communication in three children with autism spectrum disorders. Focos on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 23, 79-94.  Ganz, J.B., Bourgeois, B.C., Flores, M.M., & Campos, B.A. (2008). Implementing visually cued imitation training with children with autism spectrum disorders and developmental delays. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, 10, 56-66.  Meadan, H., James, H., Ostrosky, M., & DeStefano, L. (2008, March). Communicative behavior in the natural environment: Case studies of two young children autism and limited expressive language. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 23(1), 37-48.