Increasing Verbal Interaction in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Using Audio Script Procedure

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of audio script and script-fading procedure in teaching initiation to children with ASD. Three children with ASD and a parent of each child participated in the study. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across children was used. The findings showed that the initiation emitted by the children increased during audio script and script-fading procedure. Children also generalized initiation across different conditions and maintained the acquired skills. Finally, the social validity findings showed that the opinions of the parents regarding the procedure were overall positive. Results were discussed in terms of recommendations for practitioners and future research.