The purpose of this intervention study was to test the possibility and ability of using story book reading as intervention for children with autism by comparing the development outcome of children with autism with and with out using story book reading as language and social interaction intervention. This study is based on the hypothesis that storybook reading can develop the language and social interaction of children with autism. Method: The Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) was used to assess 10 children with autism who have the same level of severity and join the same special classroom in Yuwaprasart Waithayopatum Child Psychiatric Hospital Patron: HRH Princess Galayani Vadhana as pre and post intervention assessment. The result from ATEC was compared to find the answer for the research question, the data from the interviews with parents of children with autism were categorized as regards the score on language and social interaction development and several variables were also taken into account. Result: The result revealed better development outcome in the children with autism who joined the intervention, but the period of reading didn’t show any relation with the quality of development outcome. The story in the storybook play important role in the intervention because children participant paid attention only on the storybook which matched with their interest. The social interaction of participants in the intervention group was significantly developed, they all had better social interaction with their parents (adult participants) and also others such as sibling, but this also did not relate to the amounting of time they had read storybooks with their parents.

The purpose of this study was to examine how participation in an academic and behavioral remediation summer camp impacts broad adaptive behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders. Adaptive behavior was measured by administering the Adaptive Behavior Assessment System, Second Edition (ABAS-II; Harrison & Oakland, 2002) to the parents of a sample of 23 children whose ages ranged from 5 years, 10 months to 11 years, 4 months. Adaptive behavior was assessed prior the beginning of camp and again during the last week of camp. Repeated measures ANOVA and repeated measures MANOVA were conducted to assess whether significant changes in adaptive behavior were observed. Results from these analyses indicated statistically significant changes in adaptive behavior were not observed, but the MANOVA indicated there was a significant interaction between time and gender. Although significant improvement in adaptive behavior was not observed, there also were no significant decreases in adaptive behavior. Additionally, clinical significance was assessed using reliable change indexes (RCI). These analyses suggested most children did not exhibit clinically significant changes in adaptive behavior. Results also were mixed with three children reportedly exhibiting clinically significant increases and two children reportedly exhibiting clinically significant decreases in adaptive behavior. Suggestions for future research include using a control or comparison group, obtaining larger sample size, using multiple measures of adaptive behavior, and obtaining observations of adaptive behavior from multiple sources. / Department of Special Education

This study explored school nurses knowledge of the diagnostic criteria and secondary conditions related to Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), their involvement in the identification and treatment of ASD, their knowledge of medication used to treat ASD, and their overall medication management of children with ASD. Participants included 100 school nurses, representing 18 states, who completed a survey on ASD. The response rate was 16.45%. The majority of school nurses were aware Autism and Asperger’s Disorder should fall under the classification of ASD within the school setting. They were less sure on whether PDD-NOS should be included as an ASD. A high percentage indicated they received training in the area of ASD from self-study rather than from formal coursework or supervised clinical experiences. Results found limited involvement of school nurses during the assessment and evaluation process. However, there was more involvement after children had been classified with an ASD, which was primarily limited to the administration of medication and medical treatments. School nurses reported being qualified to administer medication to children with ASD. They also reported being knowledgeable regarding the potential side effects of the medication they administered. The most common medication administered to children with ASD was stimulants. One anti-psychotic medication, Risperdal, appears to be administered fairly frequently by school nurses to children with ASD. Eighty percent surveyed did not report making any medication errors. The majority of school nurses were responsible for supervision of un-licensed personnel in the administration of medication. Besides nurses, secretaries/administrative assistants were the most common school employees administering medication within schools. / Department of Special Education

This study explored the effectiveness of an eight-week summer day camp that used applied behavior analysis (ABA) to decrease maladaptive behaviors and increase prosocial behaviors of children with autism spectrum disorders. Little is known about how children with autism spectrum disorders respond to ABA treatment in the camp setting. Using a multiple case study approach, behaviors were measured using direct observation techniques in a sample of 5 children ranging from 7 years, 5 months to 9 years, 1 month. Results were assessed using visual inspection of graphs and assessing trendlines of the data. Results of the study indicated that all five participants demonstrated at least two behaviors that changed in the intended direction (i.e., target behaviors decreased, replacement behaviors increased). Overall, for all five participants, 68% of behaviors changed in the intended direction. Among the behaviors that changed in the intended direction, 65% demonstrated a moderate rate of change within the eight weeks of camp. A number of possible explanations for these results, as well as for unfavorable findings, are discussed. Because this study was considered a preliminary investigation, these positive results support the need for future studies to further examine this relatively unexplored setting through replication. / Department of Educational Psychology

The purpose of the current investigation is to two-fold: 1) to determine whether relational training increases block design and IQ score 2) to determine if relational training results in increased performance on block design programs. The Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV) for Children intelligence assessment was assessed to the participant prior to baseline and after training, and programs adapted from the PEAK-Relational Training System were used for relational training procedures. A multiple-baseline design across skills (relational frames) design was used in the present study. Test relations (Y-Z) were probed during training after 3 training trial blocks and novel stimuli were used. The results indicate that the relational procedures were effective in increasing IQ on the block design subtest. The implications of the current study are discussed.

This thesis explores similarities and differences between interventions and beliefs about autism in Turkey and England. It is known that Turkish culture is interdependent and English culture is independent. It is also known that differences in interpersonal relatedness affect views about social behaviour, life goals and social priorities. This thesis, therefore, also explores whether interpersonal relatedness influences interventions and belief about autism in both countries. This research is based on case studies of special and mainstream schools in two cities, one in Turkey and one in England. The study used mixed research methods including questionnaires, interviews and observations. Participants included teachers, parents, children and clinicians. The quantitative data from questionnaires showed similarities between parents in both contexts regarding beliefs and priorities, but also important differences in interpersonal relatedness, sense of support and goals for their children. There were also differences within the two countries in the degree to which parents had an interdependent or independent orientation. Interdependent orientation across both contexts was associated with lower self-esteem, higher sense of helplessness and beliefs about the need for socio-communicative interventions. The qualitative data from interviews and observations showed similarities in the desire to improve outcomes for children with autism with many similarly held priorities and commitment to a range of interventions and approaches. Nevertheless there were substantial differences in resources and approach to teaching and involvement of family and community in the education of the children. Both the qualitative and quantitative data indicated that cultural orientations linked to interpersonal relatedness, societal priorities and resources influenced the care and education that children received and the relationships between families, schools and other professionals.

Syftet med denna studie var att studera hur skolans miljö på fyra olika skolor ser ut för elever som är inom autismspektrumtillståndet. Skolans professionella har som uppgift att kunna anpassa undervisningen efter alla elevers behov och förutsättningar. Vidare var syftet med denna studie att undersöka kring vilket behov det finns av socialpedagoger inom grundskolan idag. Studien är av kvalitativ karaktär för att kunna få information kring hur lärarna upplever hur elever med autism bemöts och får stöd i skolan. Studien baseras på fyra stycken intervjuer med lärare. Intervjuerna har sedan analyserats och bearbetats med hjälp av ett sociokulturellt perspektiv. Vidare har intervjuerna också analyserats och bearbetats med hjälp av Thomas J Scheffs teori om sociala band och Paulo Freires begrepp Empowerment. Resultatet av studien visar på att det finns ett behov av socialpedagoger inom skolans värld idag. Vidare visar resultatet på att lärare idag känner sig inte tillräckligt rustade med kunskap för att kunna hantera barn med autism. / Today's schools, including its staff, are obligated to offer adjusted teaching for all students’ abilities and needs. The purpose of this study is to look into four elementary schools, considering their current environment for students with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). It is also to investigate if there is a call for social workers to be present in elementary schools. The study was qualitative in its character and interviews with four teachers were performed. In this way, information on teachers’ thoughts and experiences of the schools’ offered support to students with ASD could be accessed. Based on a sociocultural perspective, Thomas J Scheff’s theory on social bonds and Paulo Freire’s concept of empowerment the interviews were then processed and analyzed. The results of the study indicated that elementary school teachers experience themselves as not having sufficient knowledge on how to support students with ASD.

This session will provide PE teachers with specific strategies for modifying both formal and informal assessments for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). With an increased emphasis on assessment, and a rise in the prevalence of ASD, it is critical that teachers can adapt assessments to meet the needs of students with ASD. Session participants will learn practical strategies for modifying assessment specific to motor skill performance, FitnessGram, rubrics, checking for understanding, and peer assessments.

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Before the acquisition of speaker-as-own-listener (SOL) where individuals demonstrate verbal governance of their own overt and covert behavior (Skinner, 1957), individuals have to have the correspondence between listening to one’s own voice and doing, which I name self-listening. Self-listening is defined as the correspondence between listening to one’s own voice and doing in two forms: listening to one’s own voice and doing in isolation, and joining of print with listening to one’s own voice after reading aloud and doing. I conducted two experiments to investigate the establishment of self-listening in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I evaluated two different topographies of the target behavior: listen-to-own-voice-do (LOVD), which is defined as the correspondence between listening to one’s own voice and doing in isolation, and read-aloud-do (RAD), which is defined as the correspondence between reading aloud and doing. As Skinner (1957) explained, reading is an extension of listening. When individuals are reading, they see print, say print, and then hear themselves. For that reason, listening to one’s own voice was targeted as one dependent variable and reading aloud as a second to compare the participants’ performance on both topographies accurately, as RAD includes both a listening and a reading component, while LOVD includes a listening component only. Using a multiple probe design across participants, I analyzed the participants’ performance in the two different topographies, LOVD and RAD, across two different tasks: a drawing task and a building task. The participants had to follow written directions in RAD and spoken directions in LOVD to produce a drawing in the drawing task and a construction in the building task. The dependent variables were identical across Experiments I and II, but varied in terms of the measurement system for the building task. In Experiment I, the intervention was listener instruction and in Experiment II the intervention was listener and reader instruction, in which I utilized the learn unit (Albers & Greer, 1991) in presenting the instruction and consequating the participants’ correct and incorrect responses. The intervention in both experiments was presented in the form of a treasure hunt where the participants had to complete a 20-step treasure hunt accurately to earn a desired reinforcer. The results of both experiments showed that the dependent variables, LOVD and RAD, were established across all participants. There were limitations in Experiment I, which were addressed in Experiment II. Keywords: self-listener, self-listening, listening, following instructions, spoken instructions, written instructions, joining of print, say-do correspondence, speaker-as-own- listener, listen-do correspondence, read-do correspondence, reading comprehension, listening comprehension.